Rethink Food


Cooking at home has made a comeback--and not a moment too soon. The keys to good cooking are simple. Use in-season, local ingredients and focus on fresh and natural flavours. You don’t have to give up a food just because it’s not in season, but for the fullest flavour, try recipes with at least one or two seasonal ingredients. Use cooking methods that preserve and enhance these flavours – no need for excessive processing -- Mother Nature has already done a wonderful job of making things taste great!

Kale Salad with Pine Nuts

The great thing about this salad is you can make it 2-3 hours ahead of serving so the flavors meld.

Ingredients:
2 bunches of kale (Tuscan or black kale is especially good), stems and thick center rib removed, rinse well
3 TBL champagne vinegar or rice vinegar
1/2 tablespoon honey, or more to taste
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons lightly toasted pine nuts
2 tablespoons dried cranberries
1/4 cup shaved Parmesan cheese
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Kale Chips and Yogurt Dipping Sauce

Kale chips rock. You can make them plain or dress them up. If you've never had a Kale chip they are nothing like a corn or potato chip. They are unique onto themselves and super easy to make.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

When I make kale chips I remove the large spines and save them for soup stock. But many don't.

The King of Green

When meat production is one of the biggest contributors to global warming and its polluting ways are poisoning our waterways and fill us with toxins and when nearly seven billion people stand on land that we share with some 55 billion rather large animals raised for food each year... something’s gotta give.

Antibiotics in Your Food

There is little doubt that antibiotics revolutionised modern medicine and saved millions of lives. But most antibiotics are not used to save life. Humans take them too often for minor ailments. And nearly 50% of all antibiotics are used in farming, primarily in intensive livestock production to compensate for crowded and unnatural conditions on factory farms.

Immune Boosters

This time of year, germs, environmental toxins and allergens are placing tremendous stress on our immune systems. Certain herbs and plants give our immune systems a boost by creating signals that mount a response to an invading pathogen. Astragalus, olive leaf and shiitake mushroom help white blood cells function properly and protect the body from infection.

Astragalus

Best Time For Coffee?

A free Caffeine Zone iOS app, developed at Penn State University, tells you the ideal time to take a coffee break to keep you in the "optimal mental alertness zone". It’s designed to help people determine when an extra jolt of caffeine may give them a mental boost and when it could harm sleeping patterns.

Are All Fats Created Equal?

The terms fatty acids and fats are often used interchangeably, but a fatty acid is the basic unit/building block of a fat molecule. There are three main types of fatty acids/fats found in foods: saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated and they function differently in the body.

Foods of animal origin are typically highest in saturated fatty acids. In contrast, foods from plant origin are usually higher in monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids. All fats contain 9 calories per gram and approximately 115-120 calories per tablespoon.

Baked Apple Sauce

In the fall and winter when fruit stocks are low, apples become essential in the kitchen. Their versatility works whether the finished dish is savoury or sweet. Different cultivars are bred for various tastes and uses so it's important to choose the right kind of apple for a successful culinary outcome.

Cakes, Pies, Crisps/Pudding, Skillet
Northern Spy, Spartan, Empire, Cortland, Gala, Banana Gold, Idared

What's In Season?

Seasonal, Local and Delicious

Fruits:
June: Early cherries; rhubarb, strawberries

July: Apricots, blueberries, black currants, gooseberries, muskmelon, peaches, yellow plums, raspberries, red currants, strawberries, watermelon

August:Apples, apricots, blueberries, black currants, gooseberries, blue grapes, muskmelon, peaches, yellow plums, raspberries, red currants, watermelon

Pillars of Salt

As consumers, we have two distinct choices when we purchase salt. Unrefined and refined. Both are sea salt. Unrefined salt is 85% sodium chloride and 15% other essential minerals. Refined salt is 97.5% sodium chloride and 2.5% chemical additives.

Only 7% of refined salt goes for food; the other 93% goes to industry. Industry requires chemically pure sodium chloride for manufacturing explosives, chlorine gas, soda, fertilizers and plastics. In essence, you can consider the refined table salt you are ingesting as a production overrun.