Miso Sage Roast Chicken

Sometimes you just need to roast a chicken. Am I right? Here's a delectable tasty thing to pull together for a fancy night with company, or a fancy night with your own company. You are definitely worth it.

Miso Sage Roast Chicken, fresh out of the oven. So juicy.

Sure, there are lots of super foods here. I won't go into the details of what's good for what here. Listen, it's just food. Real. Good. Food.

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MISO SAGE ROAST CHICKEN
yep it's an original, tweaked I'm sure from my years of perusing food magazines and thinking of flavours
Because I'm a fan of making gravy with roast meats, know that this one is one that should be good to go for everyone at the table. No one will be left out of this one.

THE PLAYERS
one whole chicken, preferably pasture-raised
1 small onion
1 lemon, juiced
2 tbsp miso (I used this one but you can find a few different kinds in a few different spots in town)
18 leaves of sage, fresh
2 tbsp Harissa Olive Oil (this one came from the good folks at Blue Door Calgary)
1/4 cup ghee or butter
paprika

THE VEG TRIVET
this is the first layer you'll lay down in your roasting pan, it will cook under your chicken and become your scrumptious gravy
2 parsnips, chopped in big chunks (swap for 1-2 carrots for GAPS)
1 carrot, chopped in big chunks
1 onion, peeled and quartered
3 celery sticks, chopped in big chunks
1 head of garlic
Thyme Fused Olive Oil (a limited edition item from Blue Door Calgary)

the veg trivet

THE HOW-TO

• Pre-heat your oven to 475ºF.
• Chop your vegetables for the veg trivet, and scatter them on the bottom of a good roasting pan, including the whole head of garlic (keep it whole, just trim a bit off the top). Drizzle your Thyme Fused Olive Oil on top of all veg. Set aside. (Thyme and chicken and veg. Kind of a match made in heaven, wouldn't you agree?)

this one's got KICK

• In a small blender or using your hand blender, blitz together the small onion, the lemon juice, miso and sage leaves along with the Harissa Olive Oil. Set aside.
• Set your ghee or butter in a small pan and heat just to melt.
• Pop your chicken on top of your veg trivet, tucking the wings underneath the chicken. Using your hand, slip under the skin on top of the chicken, and separate the skin from the breast meat. You will need to gently pull it away from the meat, especially in between the two breasts where there is a sort of seam. Once it is separated, fill the space between breast and skin with your blended miso/lemon/sage/harissa paste, getting all that good paste right to the top corners. This will infuse your chicken with a most delicious flavour, and ensure it stays juicy. It will also influence the flavour of your gravy! Yum.
• Wash your hands. Drizzle the melted ghee or butter on top of the skin, and sprinkle with a dusting of paprika on top.

It may not be pretty, but it sure promises to be pretty delicious.

Tuck your roasting pan in the oven and close the door, reducing your heat immediately to 400ºF. Let it roast until it is cooked through, temperature reading of 165-170ºF on your meat thermometer. I'm not as adept at knowing when the meat is done as my mom is (comes from working in a commercial kitchen where you HAD to ensure the chickens were roasted to an appropriate temp in order to make sure no one would get inadvertently sick) but my mom swears by jiggling the leg, and if it seems loose in the joint, your chicken is done. (For a 3-4lb chicken, you are looking at approximately 1.5 hours of cooking time.)

Take the chicken out and pop on a plate, top with foil in order to keep it warm and let it rest for 15 minutes in order to distribute the juices. Slice either at the table for that fancy dinner effect, or simple prepare just before serving. While the chicken is resting, return your pan to the stovetop with your veggies and pull out the head of garlic and set aside. Using a hand blender, blitz the veggies together with the juices that have accumulated in the pan. Squish out the roasted garlic out of the paper, and add to your gravy, blitzing again and adding water if it's too thick for your liking. Adjust the flavours with salt and pepper and if you'd like more of a punch of flavour, you can add some more paprika too.

And hey, because I like to multi-task, once your chicken is in the oven, you can prepare the side veggies that will go along. I put a medium pot of water on to boil, chopped some carrots into carrot sticks and broccoli into 'trees', blanched them separately in the boiling water until softened just a bit. Once they were soft, in an oven-proof dish they went and drizzled on top with a bit of fat and some flavour. For the carrots, my fat was a plain olive oil and the flavour was a maple balsamic vinegar, S+P. For the broccoli, I used ghee and a lemon-pepper spice blend with just lemon and pepper with a smattering of sea salt. Make sure to tuck these babies in the oven with the chicken for that last half hour of cooking. Yum!

Bon appetit!

Make sure to have some of the skin, it's delicious! Miso Sage Roast Chicken.

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!

Taming the Inflammation Dragon

Taming the inflammation dragon can lead to feeling like you're here.

I wanted to extend an invitation to you, my food- and wellness-loving friend, to join me for an evening workshop on the impact of our food choices on our body's sense of well-being, focusing on inflammation. The idea is to arm you with the knowledge and tools so that YOU can make informed choices for your own health and vitality, ensuring that inflammation beast quiets down its roar for you.

At this presentation, we will explore what is inflammation and how it can be one of the ways your body is trying to send a smoke signal to let you know something is up. As you may know, chronic “silent” inflammation or low-grade inflammation has a big part to play in the majority of our chronic degenerative diseases from diabetes to cancer, mental health issues to heart disease; it's also in the picture for someone working through chronic pain issues, joint pain, skin eruptions, hormonal imbalances and fertility issues; from obesity to auto-immune conditions; it certainly contributes to the picture of gout and has also been linked to degenerative cognitive function like that found in Alzheimers' and Dementia patients.

I will touch on the power of our food choices, pinpointing the best nutrient-dense foods to best support your body do the work it needs and which foods are common contributors to the inflammation going on.

chicken meat stock

I will be demonstrating how to make your own meat stock in order to best support your body through lowering your body's inflammation, with different additional herbs you can add as bonus depending on whatever ailment you're working through. We will finish the workshop with some ideas on lifestyle choices that can best support lowering our overall inflammation, as stress happens to be public enemy number 1 when it comes to inflammation. Yep, we'll brainstorm ideas on what that can look like for you: does it mean you downsize your commitments? Make time for a cuppa with a friend? Make a date for a comedy show? Take a day off and run towards water with a little in tow?

The talk gets underway just after dinner on Tuesday December 1st, 7.15pm at Renewal Homeopathy & Wellness at #150, 4625 Varsity Drive NW just next to Planet Organic. Call in order to reserve your spot at 403.202.8507, tickets are $20 per participant.

Congratulations to the lovely Liane from Calgary who has won free tickets to attend Tuesday night's talk on TAMING THE INFLAMMATION DRAGON. Liane is a subscriber to my newsletter, and won the tickets offered to my subscribers. Want to get in on future giveaway action? Join my newsletter today by filling in the box marked 'subscribe'!

My biggest take-away for this workshop? We'll be talking JERF. Just. Eat. Real. Food. That's probably the biggest single change you can implement one meal at a time in order to best keep that inflammation beast tamed. Look forward to seeing you there!

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!

SUPER CHARGED HOT CHOCOLATE BECAUSE... snow. and pumpkins.

Not sure what it's like where you are today, but the snow showed up this morning here in our part of the world. At school drop off this morning, had a chance for a quick visit and chat with a few parents and we got to talking hot chocolate. And coffee. And tea. And all things warming. And I thought well it's high time we figure out a way to make some yummy hot chocolate that can impart some superpowers in the process. (*not documented nor measured superpowers yet. The lab results haven't come in yet...) Enter: THE SUPER CHARGED HOT CHOCOLATE.

This is a variation on a super delicious Pumpkin Chaga Latte dreamed up by one of the loveliest of the lovelies, Angela Bewick whose face you may recognize if you are a frequent Amaranther. (Make sure to click on that recipe and try it out, it's most delicious!) So thank you Angela for having inoculated me into the world of medicinal mushrooms and started me on this journey of super charging foods. 

If at the sight of the word 'mushrooms' you are contemplating veering away from the blog, I say don't! There is no taste of mushrooms to these kinds of bevies, I assure you. The mushrooms impart minimal flavour to the concoction, but what they do share are these superpowers, helping support your immune system, your adrenals, providing a fabulous amount of antioxidants assisting your body and liver in keeping good working order and reducing free radical damage. One of my favourite things about these medicinal mushrooms is the research that is showing how supportive they can be for someone undergoing radiation or any kind of cancer treatment. For a full write up on the benefits of the mushrooms in today's recipe, you may want to check this page for Chaga mushrooms, and this page for the benefits of consuming Reishi mushroom tea. Know that there is no caffeine in these mushrooms, so this is a good kid-friendly tea.

THE PRELIMINARY: (I did these yesterday)

• Roast your leftover jack-o-lanterns at 375F for an hour and 10 minutes or until soft, set aside to cool. Scoop out the pulp away from the skin, and blitz in a food processor or with an immersion wand.
• Put up 6 cups of filtered water with 5 slices of Reishi mushrooms and 1 tbsp of Chaga mushrooms, bring to a simmer and put a lid on, let it simmer on low for a minimum of 6 hours. 

Where to find the mushrooms:  your favourite local health food store; if you're in Calgary, you can also find some at The Light Cellar in Bowness.

VARIATIONS: you can use canned pumpkin instead of roasting your own. If you do end up roasting your pumpkins, store the leftovers in ice cube trays, and tuck them in ice cube sized portions in freezer bags for easy retrieval when you will make this super charged hot chocolate in the coming winter months. (A super-full ice cube equals roughly 2 tbsp of puree). I tuck them in freezer bags to use in sauces, soups and to thicken things or to add fibre, nutrients and a hint of sweet to a dish like a good greens curry. 

I make a reishi/chaga infusion every Sunday for the week ahead. It takes all of 3 minutes to put it on, and I dip into it every day or two for a good tea. VARIATIONS: you can simmer the mushrooms with some fresh ginger slices, or a cinnamon stick and maybe a few cardamom pods to add a chai flavour. I just bring it back to a boil before using it for teas and store it on the stovetop for those 4-5 days it will take me to get through a batch. You can also make a big batch and keep it in a glass jar in the fridge if you like, or prepare this in your slow cooker and let it simmer on low all week as you dip into it for sauces or additional nutrients to your meals when you need to thin something or steam the broccoli a little further.

The players: cinnamon, cardamom, vanilla powder, chaga and reishi mushrooms, roasted pumpkin, cocoa powder. Super Charged Hot Chocolate.

SUPER CHARGED HOT CHOCOLATE
THE PLAYERS:
2 cups of chaga reishi tea
5-6 heaping tbsp roasted pumpkin puree
1/4 tsp vanilla powder or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp cocoa powder or raw carob powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp ginger powder
2-3 cardamom pods, cracked open (put shell and seeds in your pot)
1 tbsp coconut oil
2-3 tbsp maple syrup or honey

Put all of these ingredients in a pot big enough to hold it all. Bring it to a simmer, and let simmer for 15 minutes.

Next, fish out the cardamom shells. In your blender or in a bowl that will accommodate your immersion blender, put 1/2 cup to 1 cup of either creme fraiche or coconut milk or any milk of your choosing (making sure to pick one with a higher fat content) along with roughly 1 cup of your super charged hot chocolate, and blend until smooth. Add the remainder of your super charged hot chocolate to the mix, again blending until smooth. Voila! 

There are so many benefits to this Super Charged Hot Chocolate, but I won't bore you with it. Sometimes it's good to just make some food that tastes good and feels good. Now that's nourishing.

A barista I will never be. A cuppa Super Charged Hot Chocolate. For you, sweet one.