MEALS MADE TASTY (and easy!)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! At least this is what happened at my house a few weeks ago when my husband answered the door to greet someone dropping off a bag of flavour goodies for me to play with.

As a Brand Ambassador for the loveliest of local lovelies Blue Door Oil & Vinegar, I get sent a few samples to play with from time to time, in order to come up with recipes and ideas on easy ways to prep nutrient-dense meals, using their delicious products. NOT A HARD THING I assure you. 

And so play I did, and have for you two recipes that will make dinner prep a snap for this busy time of year. Not only that, I will also be giving away one of the products Bruce and Courtney have at the store to a lucky winner! Read on for full details.

Now if your world is anything like mine right now, it feels like things are getting close to being a little too much on the hectic side of things: projects to finish or chapters to NOW WAIT A SECOND. I don't want to add anxiety or tension to the list of things you have on your plate. You know the things you need to look after, you don't need me to remind you.

But know this: good food can still happen in this environment. In fact, cooking food can be a good tool in busier times, as it is a task that requires some pretty focused attention, and one that can involve some of your loved ones, meaning some QT spent together. Or can mean your littlest brings in the colouring book with crayons to sit at the island while you prepare the night's meal. It can also be a part of self-care, choosing good foods and nourishing ways to feed yourself and your family. I know that I tend to think about who it is I'm cooking for when I'm preparing the meal, and that alone brings my anxiety levels down. It's a meditative kind of thing. Giving you respite from the rush. And it doesn't have to be an onerous thing either. Read on for a few recipe ideas, and ways to up the nutritional ante for the meals in your near future. (And maybe a few good ideas for gifts or stocking stuffers for someone in your life you adore!)

My most favourite flavour in this last box of treats is the Baklouti Green Chili Pepper Fused Olive Oil. Out of this world!

This fused olive oil is Tunisian in origin, from the Barbary Coast of North Africa. The baklouti green chili pepper is a fruitier cousin to the hot peppers we may be better acquainted with. It is part of the traditional fare from this region of the world, an essential component in curries, couscous dishes, one of the ingredients in Harisa, a traditional chile paste used to give sauces and dishes a flavour boost. What makes this a flavour fused olive oil, as opposed to an infused olive oil you ask? The flavour fused olive oil means the whole fruit is crushed in with premium harvested olives in order to create an indelible blend of flavours. An infused type of olive oil means the natural flavour essences are combined with a top quality olive oil, and the results are stunning. To me, the fused olive oils pack a bigger punch flavour-wise, and because the whole fruit is used in the making of the product, I am telling myself it contains more nutrients. (*not scientifically proven. Just my musings.)

I am a multi tasker by trade, and a miser I MEAN frugal lady so I like to pull double duty when I can. As I was using the oven to roast something for dinner one night, I decided to prepare a spaghetti squash a day in advance in order to lessen the load of work for meal prep the next night. (My meal plan work on the weekend takes the guesswork out of weeknight dinnertime, and ensures I use all of the produce in my fridge before it goes bad. And prevents me from reaching for quick fix meals, although those nights are ok too. Working on balance, I am.)

My aim was to make a noodle-like side dish for a quick saute I was preparing the next evening. My family loves noodles, but I wanted to increase the nutritional content for us and offer a grain-free version we could all feast on, and so I prepared this spicy roasted spaghetti squash. See, when you slice the spaghetti squash into rounds and roast it, as opposed to cutting it in half, your 'noodles' end up being longer, and more like, well, spaghetti. And so slice it into rounds I did, scooped out the seeds, and set the discs in a pan and drizzled this baklouti green chili pepper fused olive oil on top, roasting at 375F for 45 minutes. Tucked it away in a glass dish after shredding the discs with my fork, storing in the fridge until the following night.

The following night, took that baby out of the fridge, drizzled more olive oil on top (because I love the flavour so!) and popped it in the oven at 350F for about 20-25 minutes until it was warmed up and scooped it out on plates ready to serve. As the stir fry I was topping the 'noodles' with had a sesame-garlic-heat vibe happening, I tossed some sesame seeds on top of the noodles to add some crunch and a bit of calcium. (Oh yes, sesame seeds are a fabulous source of calcium!)

You could easily add just about any flavoured or fused olive oil here to a dish like this, making it an easy side for any meal. Blue Door's olive oils are top quality and are incredibly fresh, and so they are safe to use at higher roasting temperatures while still retaining the beneficial qualities. I roast up to 425F with these oils, and feel ok doing so.

Here are a few flavour combinations that may be pique your interest: Fused Lemon Olive Oil with fresh chopped parsley and chives; Butter Olive Oil with chopped chervil and white pepper; Wild Mushroom & Sage olive oil with re-hydrated dried mushrooms; Chipotle Olive Oil with nigella (or kalonji) seeds; Hojiblanca Mild Olive Oil with sauteed peaches, gorgonzola and prosciutto. Simply add these along with the spaghetti squash when reheating or initially cooking. Use any kind of squash as your side, they are excellent sources of fibre and beta-carotene, one of those liver-loving antioxidant vitamins. It's so good you PLAY WITH YOUR FOOD!

Another easy meal prep I pull out of my sleeve when I feel we have a busy week is this one-pan roast dinner. In fact, I made it last night and tossed it in the oven on a timer while I went out to enjoy a bit of skating at the local ice rink with my little lady. (How's that for stress-busting!) This is one of those easy peasy one-pot meals that involve little prep (10 minutes of chopping), little cleanup (one pan and a knife), maximum flavour, and just a titch of forethought, providing you with loads of good nutrients to keep you going.

SHEET PAN DINNER

THE PLAYERS:
Sausages, chopped into bite size morsels (I used locally made chicken apple sausages from Paolini's at Crossroads Market)
Vegetables that are about to go bad in your fridge*
Vegetables that are taking up space in your freezer**
Flavour boosting Olive Oil (I used the Cilantro & Roasted Onion olive oil – yum!)
Flavour boosting spices if you need more (I used salt and pepper, and red chilis; you could use a smoked salt, conveniently available at Blue Door!)

THE HOW-TO:
Slather a good fat on the base of your pan. I use the roasting pan that came with the oven, find it works like a charm. I slathered with butter. Because butter.
Toss in everything you've chopped.
Drizzle on your olive oil. This is your major flavour component, so use liberally. (It's also an anti-inflammatory powerhouse. FYI.)
Sprinkle your spices.
Toss in the oven at 375F for 1 hour. (Use your timer on your oven for this if you have a busy night – love this feature!)

Dinner is served.

Pardon the bluriness of the photo. I was so hungry it was hard to take a moment to snap a pic before tucking in.

*Veggies that went in last night's dinner at our house: wedges of cabbage, peeled sweet potatoes, carrots, broccoli, shallots. You could use yams, parsnips, cauliflower, beets, garlic, onions, leeks, I mean your crisper is the limit here. Use up something that looks like it's about to give up the ghost! Radishes would be yum!

**I threw in some green beans that had been in the freezer for a bit too long. As they roasted, they became crispier and more delicious, so the texture that would have rendered them unpalatable had they been steamed was nowhere to be seen, and crunchy was the end result. Especially because they were on the top layer of this sheet pan, and had some good olive oil on top. You could use peas, frozen cauliflower or broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, any leftovers from previous dinners that you didn't have the heart to throw out and instead kept adding them to that freezer bag you have for just such emergencies. Empty that sucker on this sheet pan dinner, and free up more space in your freezer without wasting your resources!

This is what JERF and Nutrient-Dense is all about. Just. Eat. Real. Food. Nutrient density means every component in this meal is chock full of nutrients that will satiate (Good fats! Olive oil! Animal fats and protein!). This is easy, frugal, and tastes really great as lunch the next day. Just remember to drizzle on more olive oil before you reheat that sucker.

GIVEAWAY TIME

As this is the season of giving, I am pairing up with Blue Door Oil & Vinegar for a giveaway! Their shop -- online and in person at West 85th (8561 8A Ave SW) or at Symons Valley Ranch Farmers Market on the weekends -- is one of my favourite spots to go to for that special gift for your child's school or piano teacher, your most favourite clients or business partners, or for those tasty surprises as I help Santa fill the stockings of grown-ups in our family. We are giving away a jar of yummy Smoked Artichoke Tapenade Spread to a lucky Calgarian! In order to get your name in the draw for this prize, you must comment below. Just a one word comment is all!

I will be drawing the name of the lucky winner the evening of Tuesday December 22nd. You have until 6pm that night to comment here. I will be in touch!

Yes. I'm going to say it. GO PLAY WITH YOUR FOOD.

And many thanks to Bruce and Courtney at Blue Door Oils & Vinegars for bringing such flavours to our dinner table. Support local!

BEET KVASS

I recently had the pleasure of hanging out in Malcolm-from-The-Light-Cellar's kitchen as we cracked jokes about the bloodiness of beets with All Hallows Eve lurking around the corner, and talked of the purported legendary status of beet kvass in the world of aphrodisiacs. What is beet kvass, you ask? If you are asking me, I will rattle off the nutritional content and point out all of the benefits of consuming a fermented beverage for improved overall health. But if you put those sciency things aside, I will tell you that it is one of my favourite beverages, tasting of the salty earth, a drink I have every day and never tire. 

Beet kvass is meant to be consumed as a tonic, so a little goes a long way. It's also ridiculously easy to make. I invite you to check out this video I am attaching here to the blog, to find out how easy it is to make your own batch at home! It is a part of The Light Cellar's series called Easy Upgrades. Take a gander, and let me know how your batch turns out (and what you put in it!):

Why I love it: it's quick and easy and really inexpensive to make. You don't need any special equipment. It's a liver-loving and kidney-supporting beverage that will help protect your sweet self from free radical damage, good for cleaning up and building blood, protein digestion, a purveyor of the mineral boron which is needed for building bones and our sex hormones (hence, the aphrodisiac reputation from ancient Roman times!), also pumps out the betacyanin which is shown to be a potent anti-carcinogen. It's good for someone who owns a liver, a kidney or two, a heart, a gallbladder, a stomach or intestines.

Oh, and beet kvass has been shown to help flush out uric acid, so talk about busting the gout! Now if you are one that is typically wary of oxalates, you are saying to yourself right now "Luka, this beet love you have going on is dangerously high in oxalates." From the DID YOU KNOW files: fermenting a veggie high in oxalates has been shown to drastically reduce the oxalates in question. BOOM.

Go make a batch. And let me know how you flavoured it. 

BEET KVASS
The players (per litre of filtered water):
1-2 good sized beets
2-3 tsp sea salt
a knob of ginger, sliced
a knob of fresh turmeric, sliced
1 garlic cloves
1 L filtered water (or enough water to fill a 1L jug once the rest of the ingredients are in the jug)

My favourite flavour additions:

• you can take out the ginger, turmeric and garlic in the recipe above and add in the extras listed below, or keep them in the mix. Up to you! Highly recommend always adding in some seaweed.
• adding in some green onions and fresh rosemary sprigs in summer for Liver Lovin
• adding in dried hot peppers + handful of goji berries + 2tsp burdock root for Heart Health
• tossing in the inside of cabbage 'hearts' with 2 strips of astragalus for blood sugar balancing
• 2 tsp fennel seeds + 2 tsp fenugreek seeds + 1 tbsp rosehips for extra Gut loving
• adding in a slice or three of reishi medicinal mushrooms + few strands of kelp + 1 tbsp nettle for added Adrenal support
• want to go Old World? Toss in a few bay leaves + 1 tbsp caraway seeds.
• Love dill pickles? Toss in your garlic and add in big handful of fresh dill and some peppercorns.
• Play with the flavours and what you have in your pantry. And comment below with combos that really hit it out of the park!

FESTIVAL OF FRIENDLY FERMENTS - A SUCCESS!

Beet kvass peddler, Friday night at COP for Festival of Friendly Ferments 2015. Thanks to Andrea B. for the photo.

This past weekend went by in a flash. For anyone who attended the Festival of Friendly Ferments, presented by The Light Cellar at the facilities at Canada Olympic Park this past weekend, did you feel the need to sleep in on Sunday morning? Or did you wake up in a flash super-inspired to create new ferments, combinations dreamt over the course of the night? A combination of both in my case, it would seem.

Sandor Katz, sharing stories and fermenting ways on the Saturday

I would like to send a great big huge CONGRATULATIONS and MASSIVE THANKS to the good folks at The Light Cellar in Bowness, for so aptly putting together a festival of fermentation for both newbies and seasoned fermenting vets alike, and for inviting me along to take a seat on this crazy fermenting ride. The weekend was a smooth affair, with delicious eats and treats available for sampling; the kraut-off was a hit, not to mention Larry The Big Pickle; the community that gathered and shared stories and recipes, tips and tricks; and of course, the inimitable Sandor Katz, the grand guru of fermenting brought his wonderful wit, anecdotal tales and his wealth of fermenting knowledge and history to the weekend's festivities. The whole weekend flowed smoothly from one topic to the next, with chances for participants to get right in there and get their hands dirty with a few take-home ferments. I had the distinct pleasure of hanging out at the Flavour-Your-Own-Water-Kefir station, where it seems everyone came through and asked some fabulous questions, imparted some of their own fermenting tales and struggles, I had a most wonderful time with the lovely Angela setting you up for water kefir success. 

Our spot at this weekend's Festival of Friendly Ferments. Yummy homemade probiotic soda participants flavoured and took home to try it out! Thanks to Dean C. for the photo.

If you are new to this blog, or are receiving this post via my newsletter (thanks to the 60 new folks to the newsletter!), know that there are a few things here on this site that may be of interest to you. Take a tour of the site, check out the full information on hosting your own fermenting party at home; find out about upcoming presentations on Navigating Fats, Optimizing Digestion and other topics that may be of interest to you; request your own favourite topic or get in touch with a topic you may want to bring to a group in which you belong (like the talk for healthy nutrient-dense lunches I am offering this week to the parents of new Grade 1 students at a school here in town); you should also know that I have a Holistic Nutrition practice where I do nutritional counselling at Renewal Homeopathy & Wellness here in Calgary. Whatever it is you need, I am all ears. Welcome, both new and seasoned visitors alike!

The bubbles were such a nice touch! Bit blurry, but completely beaming, we all. Thanks to Tanya M. for the photo.

COMMUNITY CULTURE SERIES WINNER: I have announced the winner to the Giveaway so very generously offered by Malcolm and the team at The Light Cellar. Congratulations to Jennifer Bergfeldt who will be participating in The Light Cellar's continuing series of connecting with local fermenters as a five-week follow-up to this past weekend's Festival of Friendly Ferments! Jennifer, like many others, signed up for my newsletter just recently and it was her name that came out of the hat.  I will be leading this first class this week on how to make your own Beet Kvass, full information to be found on the kvass class here. The Light Cellar is selling individual tickets to those who would like to attend a class or two, but let me tell you, it's a fantastic deal to sign up for the next five weeks of Thursday night classes, as you will delve into 10 different styles of fermenting and connect with 10 different fermenting ambassadors from our local community. It is a whopper of a deal, and a definitive way to continue the magic from this most wonderful weekend of Friendly Ferments. Full information on the Community Culture Series can be found here, including tickets.

So whether or not you are new to this fermenting way of food life, I would like to welcome you to Good Food + You, and thank you for taking the time to stop by the booth this past weekend or for supporting me in my new venture over the course of this last year. I am so very grateful for your interest and support, and for the community backing that happens in this vibrant food + health scene here in Calgary. I invite you to get in touch if you're keen on delving deeper into reclaiming your food & body groove. Here's to good food and you!

cheeky but true.

COMING SOON!

There is a little co-production in the works. Keep your eyes peeled for news of a collaboration with a local company I am seriously loving these days! We will have an announcement later on this week. This may or may not take shape in a cooking class format. Rest assured, it will most definitely include good food and ways these good foods will nourish your sweet self. Stay tuned!