Experimental vegetarian cooking and urban gardening in Ontario, Canada
So I’m a fan of cocktails (martinis especially), and I want to start making them at home. That may sound easy enough, but there’s a problem: Most cocktail recipes call for two or three types of liqueurs, and each bottle costs anywhere from 20 to 30 bucks. Is it really worth it to spend 100 bucks or more at the […]
Last month I volunteered with Hidden Harvest, an independently funded organization that harvests fruits and nuts from trees in Ottawa and donates a portion to local food banks. We went to Mooney’s Bay and harvested 197 lbs of crabapples. The camera on my phone unfortunately stopped working, so I don’t have any photos of the trees, but I did get […]
So this week has been fairly uneventful. The CSA Box has the usual items. I kept things simple. I steamed the broccoli, blanched it, then froze it for later use. I made the usual snacks and meals with the onions and potatoes and salad greens. I had a bunch of green beans leftover from last week, and I managed to […]
Can you believe that it’s almost October? It seems like the summer passed by so fast. With the nighttime temperatures dropping, it’s time to start harvesting the cold-sensitive plants. I decided to deal with the plants at home first. Although I didn’t do much with the front garden this year, I did grow a large basil plant in the yard, […]
These CSA boxes remind me of Chopped, a cooking show where chefs are given mystery baskets with random ingredients, which they must use to cook a meal. Obviously, me receiving a CSA box isn’t the same thing as a televised cooking competition. However, I find myself saying the same thing that the chefs say: what the heck am I supposed to do […]
Fresh cherries are only available for a short time in Canada. What I usually do is buy a small amount (as they’re expensive!) and bring them home. In the evening, I put them into a small bowl and bring it onto the balcony so I can eat them while reading a book. I sit in a lawn chair in the […]
I put together this recipe one night while trying to use up the asparagus and cherry tomatoes in the fridge. The basil pesto adds healthy fat and protein from the olive oil and nuts, making it more filling than sugar-laden salad dressings. If using store-bought pesto, aim for a high-quality brand that contains pine nuts and olive oil (rather than […]
Today I’m posting a review of kefir grains along with instructions for making your very own kefir at home. The people at Kefir Kitchen have generously sent me a free sample of their grains (the starter bacteria), all the way from Turkey to Canada, in exchange for a written review of the product. In case you’re wondering what the heck […]
Do you ever feel bad when you throw away veggie scraps, even if they are going into the compost? I know I do. It’s not as if there is anything wrong with the leftover bits of parsley and thyme, or with that one dinky carrot sitting alone in the crisper bin. It would be nice to do something with them, but […]
I keep hearing about fermented foods and how great they are supposed to be for our gut health. A good deal of this talk (from where I’m sitting anyway) comes from yogurt commercials. In these commercials, health-conscious women walk around their kitchens talking excitedly about the health benefits of their favourite yogurt brand. Live cultures! good bacteria! Eat yogurt for […]
