MONDAY BASICS: Add Nettle to Meals

Welcome to Monday. St. Patrick's Day is happening this week, and as I have some Irish roots, I did indeed aim to think green for this week's #mondayhealthbasics blog post.

My week got off to a roaring start with a thoughtful gift from one of my sisters, a book from boreal herbalist wunderkind Beverley Gray called The Boreal Herbal: Wild Food and Medicine Plants of the North – a Guide to Harvesting, Preserving and Preparing. Oh the joy. Oh the possibilities! (I am so lucky to have two awesome sisters. I love them so!)

See, I am a forager at heart and as I dig a bit deeper into our family's history, I realize I come by this quite honestly. This book has been on my radar for years since a good friend shared the knowledge within and a few recipes and foraging forays with me. But leafing through this new tome to my collection last night got me dreaming of things I want to uncover in places near by. As the book cover suggests, “(this) is an indispensable guide to identifying and using northern plants for food and medicine.” In this book you will find profiles of plants, berries, herbs and trees that will help you identify them in the wild. These profiles will help you figure out how and when to gather and preserve these goodies, with safety tips. You'll find lots of recipes and how-tos with detailed information on how best to gather these medicinal foods and make the most of the plants growing wild in the recesses of your back yard to the more remote spots found in nearby wilder areas.

Leafing through the book last night, I zoned in on the Stinging Nettle, or Urtica dioica. Yes yes yes, the same plant that gives you the very intense zing-like needling you would experience were you to chance upon a patch without knowing it. This perennial plant runs wild in almost every nook and cranny of this planet where there are wetter areas or where the soil has been disturbed. It loves rich damp soil. And seeing as spring seems to be just around the corner, it will be one of the first wild plants that will pop up for early harvesting.

I love nettle for so many reasons: it grows wild and can be found quite easily if you know where to look and what to look for. It's a super green, providing a rich source of iron (we need for energy and oxygen transport in our bodies) and silica (a mineral necessary for our body's structural force so think strong bones, nails, skin and hair). It's a power house of vitamins and nutrients, a good source of vitamin K, magnesium, chlorophyll, vitamins A and C too. My favourite thing in nettles is the high calcium content: 1 cup will supply your body with roughly 40% of this important mineral for the day!  All of this to say that nettle is a food that will promote the good health of bones and teeth, my friend. And these things we need strong for this world, yes?

The Boreal Herbal book explores the folklore behind this nutrient-dense herb, stating it is a blood purifier. It's purported to help your kidneys and liver. There are new studies looking into the efficacy of this herb in the treatment of BPH (benign prostatic hyperplasia), a non-cancerous growth of the prostate gland. So fellas, this one is for you too!

This herb is a fabulous anti-histamine herb, and as such would be of tremendous support for anyone dealing with allergies or the kinds of reactions we would associate with hayfever like itchy watery eyes. The leaves have also been shown to help combat inflammation, and so this herb would be of great benefit to someone suffering with arthritis or gout, eczema or psoriasis. Any kind of inflammation!

Nettle has a diuretic effect as well, so if you are someone who tends to retain water, this would be a good herb to add to your arsenal. Love your kidneys up, my friend.

Some companies have added it to their hair care products in order to help control dandruff. There are even manufacturers out there who have figured out how to utilize the fibres of the plant to produce textile. Fabric! All because of how easily and prolifically it grows. (Some folks call this a weed. A weed to you is a herbal delight to me.)

WHERE TO FIND THE GOODS

Now not everyone is up for hiking through dense marshy areas in search for this perennial herb. And fair enough. (I am not a super experienced forager, so I will forego sharing any tips or ideas on how or where to find nettle. I don't want to send you in the wrong direction or fail to give you the full and complete information you would need to ensure the plant you have in your hand is indeed the nettle plant. Plus, I don't want you to get hurt. BUY THE BOOK. It's about all I can say.)

So where would one find this amazing herb then, you ask, should one prefer to go the surer route? There are quite a few favourite local haunts where I have seen them on the shelves, or where I have purchased bags of the good stuff. Make sure to check your local favourite health food stores like Amaranth, Community or Blush Lane. You can also pick some up at The Light Cellar next time you're in Bowness.

Dry nettle leaves

HOW TO CONSUME THE GOODS

I'd forego trying the stuff raw. Imagine it stings you. While you're chewing. I'm just not that much into extreme food sports, you know? I mean they're called stinging nettles for a reason: there are hairs on the plant's stems and leaves that, when they come into contact with your skin, well they STING! And that feeling is just not pleasant.

But once you cook them, that stinging property disappears and you are left with a wonderfully dense, nourishing green that will provide your body with the good food. One of the easiest ways to consume the benefits of this herb is to steep it in a tea. Just toss the lot in with some water, and simmer for a short time if you prefer a weaker tea, or go ahead and let it simmer for longer for a deeper greener taste. I myself like to throw it in with other herbs in my thermos for the day's tea, depending on what I have in my pantry or what organ I want to support at that time. Nettle is always in the mix, every single day.

If you go digging around the internets, you'll find some wonderful recipes like this Potato, Golden Beet and Nettle Soup that sounds scrumptious. The good folks at The Kitchn have compiled a comprehensive list of recipes for clever ways to consume nettle in things like pestos, pastas, pies and pizzas here. You'll also find a wonderful compendium of recipes featuring this herb at a website solely dedicated to the health properties of Nettle. 

I'm not so calculated, I tend to cook from the hip. I throw a handful of dried nettles in lots of things from meatballs to soups and stocks; I've been known to throw some in with the ground beef or bison I'm cooking for a taco salad  or add it in to spaghetti sauce or a chili. Anywhere you want a little more green, my friend. It's as easy as that. Toss it in with your morning egg scramble; add it to the shredded sweet potato pancakes you have on tap for dinner tonight; simmer them a bit in a cup of meat stock for snack time; add it to your herbal profile when making a bouillon salt; add it to the greens you're cooking up for a yummy Palak Paneer; throw it in with the vegetables in your next ferment.

Whatever you do my friend, you best
GO PLAY WITH YOUR FOOD.

And happy St. Patty's day!

Easy Sides - Palak

I love greens. We all know we should eat them. Some may like them, others may have a hard time choking them down. I have a little one who won't eat a salad, say, but she'll devour this easy side every time I make it. In fact, she requests it on a regular basis. Making a nourishing side like this makes me feel like EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE OK. She had some greens. (And so did I, in the process.)

Easy Sides. Palak. GF DF

I also just did a presentation last night on the importance of soaking nuts and seeds, grains, beans and legumes. We touched on the why, went over the how, and talked about alternatives to make it a do-able task in any kitchen. I will offer this class again in the future, to be sure, but let it be known that if this is a topic that is of interest to you and you'd like to gather a small group of friends or co-workers to explore the why and the how, get in touch.

This recipe has evolved over the years, and started out as an offering for dinner from my friend Virginia. So thank you, Ginny. This is a nourishing and nutrient-packed food that can be served as a main at your meal, or as a delicious side. You get to pick. Oh yes, it reheats beautifully for lunches and future meals, so make sure to make a double batch. I intended for this to be a double batch, but we wolfed it all down at dinner last night. I guess we were hungry.

This is a great way to get those greens in. It's also one to tuck in the 'Remember for the Summer' file, for when your garden is overrun with greens and you just don't know what to do with them. For this recipe I made last night, I used a big container of organic spinach, threw in 3 leaves of swiss chard (chopped the ribs separately and added them earlier in the cooking time along with the onions), about a handful of broccoli and half a bunch of fresh parsley, stems and all. I love adding fresh herbs to this kind of meal, as aromatic herbs tend to be higher in polyphenols and antioxidants, and where there are polyphenols, one should think 'anti-inflammatory' and 'liver love'. (Same goes for cilantro. That would be yummy in this dish!)

Know that pre-soaking does involve a bit of fore-thought, but it will certainly be worth it. As Isa from the Post Punk Kitchen says, 'A.B.S. Always Be Soaking.'

Mise-en-place will benefit you greatly here.

THE PLAYERS
1 cup cashew nuts
1 tbsp lemon juice
filtered water
2 tbsp solid cooking fat (I love coconut oil here, to support the curry flavours but ghee or butter works)
1 onion, minced
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp minced ginger, fresh
½ tbsp minced turmeric root, fresh (optional – you could use turmeric powder instead, about ½ tsp)
big container or two bunches of greens, chopped
3 tsp Madras curry powder
1 tbsp curry paste (You can use store-bought, or make your own like the Korma paste I made from Jamie Oliver's book Food Revolution)
2 tsp good quality sea salt
2 tsp lemon juice
pepper

THE HOW-TO

• At least 8 hours before you plan to make this dish, pop your cashews along with the lemon juice in a glass jar, and cover with filtered water. Put your cover on, and allow it to sit at room temperature on the counter for the day, or at least 6 hours. If you think you will be too busy the morning of this meal, do it the night before, and when you come to breakfast, pop that jar in the fridge to use later that day. No harm in letting it soak a bit longer.
• When it's time to start dinner, take all of your ingredients out, along with your blender and a big bowl, if your blender is a hand blender. Chop up your veggies so they're ready to go. (Mise-en-place will help you immensely in this kind of scenario.)
• Set a deep and wide pan or pot on your burner on medium, and heat up. When it's hot, add your solid fat, allow it to melt, and throw in your onion, ginger and turmeric (if using). Sauté in your pan, moving the bits around, for about 5 minutes, then add the garlic, curry powder and curry paste. Sauté this in your pan for a minute or two, until it's very fragrant.
• Add your greens at this point, from the toughest greens down to the ones that will cook fastest, and toss around until they're wilted and cooked through. (Broccoli will take longer to cook than parsley, so wait a bit before adding the parsley.)
• In a big bowl, dump your soaked cashews along with the liquid they're in, and blitz them in to a paste using a handblender. Alternately, you can also do this in a blender. Once they are nice and creamy, you want to add the concoction from the pan (greens, onions, spices, flavours) and blitz them in with the blended cashews, until they are a nice creamy consistency. Dump the whole lot back in the pan.
• Set your heat to medium low, add your lemon juice and pepper, and adjust your flavours. If you want it to sing a bit more, add some salt; if you'd like a bit more bitterness, add a bit of lemon juice. If it's too thick, add some stock or water to the mix, until it has reached your desired consistency. Serve as soon as it's warmed up.
• If you're ok with dairy, you can turn this into Palak Paneer: once your greens and cashews are blended, leave them in the bowl or blender, and turn your pan back on. Add some solid cooking fat to the pan when it's ready, and pan-fry some paneer chunks until nice and golden. Halloumi cheese might be good to use here too! When they are golden, dump your palak back in with the paneer, and continue on as the recipe states above.

Generous helping of Palak, with Salmon Burgers and kimchi horseradish compound mayo.

Bon appétit!

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.

Pot Roast With Loads of Veg and Zing

It's the time of the year for many things: for warming foods, for a frugal approach to cooking, for upping your veg intake, for cooking more from scratch, <insert your own take here>. As a Holistic Nutritionist, I often share meal plans and recipe ideas along with my food recommendations in order to best support my clients in improving their current health status. This is a recipe I have long been wanting to document, in order that I may do just that: Share. Share. Share.  It also regularly appears in my weekly meal plans and is one of our family's favourites. This is all about the good food, my friend!

Pot Roast with Loads of Veg and Zing

I love this pot roast because I can prep it the morning of, or the night before and it will still taste delicious. I find the rush between after school and dinner can sometimes feel like a crunch. (Let's go sledding! The skating rink is ready! Come over for a cup of tea! Oh and errands.) This is the meal for that kind of day.

I started making gravy similar to that found in this recipe after my daughter's dayhome caregiver shared with me that it was how she prepared sauces for the children in her care. I think you'll find it's truly genius. Nary a flour to be found, glutinous or non.

POT ROAST WITH LOADS OF VEG AND ZING
You can prepare everything the night before or the morning of, keep in fridge until ready to cook. I sometimes partially defrost the meat and prepare the morning of, and tuck in the oven and set the timer in order that it may be ready by dinnertime. Frees me up for important skating dates with my kiddo. And really, please don't be swayed by the anchovies. Give it a try; if you'd really rather not include them, you can add 2 tbsp of fish sauce instead, ensuring the fish sauce has no added sugar. *If you are following a GAPS diet, I have indicated where substitutions should be made.

THE PLAYERS:
3 tbsp solid cooking fat (bacon fat would be divine here, but butter, ghee, lard or tallow works)
2 onions, peeled and chopped
6 anchovies, rinsed
3-4 lb roast of beef (I opt for the cheaper/tougher cuts like chuck roast, brisket, top or bottom round roast, bottom round, rump (I just love this word – RUMP), sirloin tip)
6-8 carrots, chopped
3-5 celery ribs, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
few sprigs of fresh thyme
handful of mushrooms
1 rutabaga or turnip, peeled and chopped
1 small winter squash, chopped
2 parsnips, chopped (substitute with 1 celery root for GAPS legal)
3-4 yams, peeled and chopped (omit for GAPS legal)
3 cups meat stock (I used chicken stock as it was what I had on hand; beef or bison would be divine)
3 tbsp pomegranate molasses (omit for GAPS legal) (find at a Middle Eastern grocery, like Shaganappi Grocery in Calgary)
4 tbsp vinegar (white wine or apple cider vinegar works and are GAPS legal; I used a pomegranate quince white balsamic vinegar from Blue Door Oil & Vinegar which is not GAPS compliant)
3 bay leaves
2-4 dried shiitake mushrooms
2 slices of reishi mushrooms (optional – find them here)
Sea salt & pepper (omit the pepper for GAPS legal)

THE HOW-TO

• Set the pot you will be making the roast in on the stovetop and preheat on medium. Add your butter and onions, and saute until softened. Add your anchovies and allow to melt, chopping them up in bits with your spatula or spoon. Toss in your garlic and thyme and saute for 30 seconds. Add your roast and sear lightly on each side. (For true GAPS compliance, forego searing the meat as you do not want any browning of the meat.)
• Remove your pot from the stovetop, and add your chopped vegetables, nestling them next to and around the meat.
• In a separate bowl, mix together the meat stock, pomegranate molasses if using, vinegar, bay leaves, shiitake mushrooms and reishi mushrooms if you are using, along with about a teaspoon of salt and few cranks of the pepper mill if using. Pour this marinade over the meat in the pot, put your lid on, and tuck in the fridge until ready for cooking.
• Cook in a 325F oven for 4 hours, or until the meat is fork-tender and just melts. Take the roast out of the pot and set aside in a bowl. Add to this bowl about half of the vegetables: I pull out some of the squash, rutabaga, carrots and all of the sweet potatoes and leave the other vegetables in the mix. (onions, garlic, celery, parsnips, half of carrots, rutabaga and squash) Keep warm.
• Put the pot back on the stovetop, and pull out the reishi mushroom slices (if using) and bay leaves. Using your immersion blender, blitz the veggies and sauce up in order to make a thick gravy. If your gravy needs thinning, add more meat stock or water; if it needs thickening, pull out more of the vegetables you had set aside in order to thicken it up. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed. You will have an abundance of gravy, but fret not, I have an idea on how to use it up...
• I use an electric knife in order to slice the pot roast in thick slices, as it yields quite readily to little pressure. Serve immediately, pouring your veggie-rich gravy liberally on everything!

What it lacks in colour, I assure you it more than makes up in flavour.

This is pretty much as nutrient-dense as it gets. My kiddo used to request only hunks of meat with lots of gravy. So happy to oblige. 

Bon appétit!

*Find yourself with a glut of gravy left over? It's the fabulous start to your next pot-o-leftover soup! What I would do: saute some leeks in ghee, toss in more carrots and celery, when soft add your leftover gravy along with some more meat stock so the thickness is to your liking. Add any leftover bits of meat you may still have on hand, some finely chopped greens like kale or chard and if you're ok with grains, toss in a handful of barley or rice and simmer until all is cooked through. The end delicious bit: add some homemade pesto after taking it off the stovetop, enough to make it taste delicious. Voila, Soupe Pistou.

Yeah we went skating...

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!