UnDiet...Week 52

Merry Christmas UnDieters!


This week, you have only one task: eat, drink and be happy. Get close to your loved ones; whatever food you choose to prepare as you celebrate, use the best quality ingredients possible and prepare foods with love. That way, you are guaranteed to nourish your soul (even if all not all the foods you eat this week nourish your body!)


Thank you so much for following along this year. At certain points, you might have strayed...at certain points, I have strayed! When beginning this project, I never realized the dedication it would take to keep going all year long - what a good reminder that any commitment you make to yourself requires passion, perseverance and willpower to keep it going. The lovely thing about an UnDiet is that there is no true beginning or end point: should you feel the need to reinvest in your health in 2012, simply start back at week one! 


Health is a journey; no one (not even a dietitian) eats "perfectly" all the time or exercises religiously, gets enough sleep or manages stress all the time. The key is tipping the scale in your favour. Always strive to be healthier today, in any way that you can. That is key to true health. 


I hope you enjoy the remaining days of 2011. Be sure to keep tuning into EDBH in the New Year for plenty more delicious adventures.


All the best of the season,
Desiree


PS - should you have any thoughts on what you would like to see on EDBH in 2012, let me know!

UnDiet...Week 51

Hello UnDieters!


I hope you are all snug and toasty with your loved ones this morning, enjoying a warm cup of tea or coffee and saying to yourself, "TGIF!" Take a moment this morning to relax and get ready to UnDiet, holiday style.


For your festive mission this coming week, I would like you to eat one holiday superfood each day. Because, what are the holidays without a celebration of food? I have chosen 5 foods that are readily available, nutritious and absolutely delicious for you to enjoy. When you eat your daily superfood, think of all the nourishment that good food (and good spirits!) can offer. Appreciate. Savour. Nourish. Enjoy.


1. Citrus - a delightful seasonal (if not local) treat, enjoy satsumas, moros, clementines, Meyer lemons, ruby grapefruit and kumquats. Squeeze yourself a bit of upliftingly scented vitamin C. The scent of grapefruit might even help to curb appetite. Any help around the holidays is appreciated :)


2. Cranberries - a potent bacteria fighter the colour of holiday lights. Make a lightly sweetened compote with apples for dessert or a snack; drink unsweetened, not-from-concentrate juice with sparkling water or dice raw cranberries into salads, pilafs and casseroles for a tart hit of nutrition.


3. Nuts - enjoy a 1/4 cup of your favourite raw nuts. Go holiday style and crack them right from the shell or take it easy and buy shelled nuts to eat on oatmeal, with dried fruit or on their own. Healthy fats will moisturize from the inside out and provide plenty of micronutrients to keep you resilient during all the holiday festivities.


4. Turkey - not just for the big feast, enjoy easy-to-prepare turkey roast as a nutritious and delicious main, slice for sandwiches, wraps and scrambles before you are totally sick of leftovers.


5. Yams and sweet potatoes - without all the sugar and marshmallow (say it ain't so!), these super spuds are super nutritious. Use them in place of other grains or starches: baked, roasted, boiled or mashed, these colourful tubers are a rich source of vitamin A.


Enjoy the holidays,
Desiree

Be Happy...Healthy Holiday Gifts

I hope that you are all enjoying the holiday season, without stress or strife! I thought for this instalment of my healthy holiday gifts post, I would focus on my first love: food. These are the foods I like to give, receive and indulge in this holiday season. Enjoy!

Ah, the macaron...the delicate almond cookie, baked perfectly tender crisp. Thomas Haas is so far my favourite in the city. These make a perfect hostess gift or why not take a friend for coffee and a couple of macarons to celebrate the season? 

Chocolate I can take or leave...but caramel is forever. I love that Cocolico sauces are made from quality ingredients and they taste amazing. I tried this sauce for the first time on the luscious apple caramel tarts Cocolico brought to Feast of Fields. Try it. It will turn sliced fruit into the most heavenly dessert ever known. 

Now salt is something that I definitely love. Just a sprinkle of a good finishing salt sets a dish on fire and makes a healthful meal delight the palate as much as it nourishes the cells. During my 100 mile diet challenge this year, I discovered Vancouver Island Salt. Local. Salt. No more needs to be said :) Available at Marche St George.

Another of my vices, er, healthy indulgences is a nice glass of wine. I read about 40 Knots Pinot Noir and had to get my hands on it. Other Island vineyards I have experienced have left me a bit cold but this was a beautiful bottle to enjoy with someone special or to take to a dinner party. 

Hope your holiday season is glittering,

Desiree

UnDiet...Week 50

Hello UnDieters! 


Just a few short weeks left in this glorious year; I hope that you are all enjoying the holidays in true UnDiet style! Eat mindfully, savour beautiful treats and leave plenty of room for the sort of nutrient dense food that will keep you charged up and partying late into the night all season long.


To help give you an added boost, this week's task is to swap a snack. Are you eating daily nuts? If not, this is the time to start. Raw nuts are full of healthy fats for gorgeous skin and clear arteries; protein to power you through your day and vitamins and minerals to strengthen your defences. So choose one of your daily snacks and replace it with 1/4 cup of your favourite raw nuts. For more protein and vitamin E, choose almonds. For omega 3s to nourish your mind, go for walnuts. For a bit of healthy indulgence, holiday style, try cashews or macadamia nuts. 


Replacing a more carbohydrate based snack for raw nuts will help keep your energy levels stable and carry you through to your next meal without getting too hungry. 


Party on!


Desiree

Be Happy...Healthy Holiday Gifts

How is that holiday shopping coming? Just 18 more sleeps until Christmas...


I am very excited to say that in my Christmas-crazy family, we are paring down this year. We are limiting our usually over the top gift exchange to stocking stuffers. I love this because in reality, many of us don't really need anything and it can be so unnerving to continue to try and find something "special" for your loved ones. This way, we can buy cute trinkets that are useful and have lots of fun opening little surprises but the focus can be on family, not stuff. 


That said, a little bit of stuff - especially functional stuff - is always fun around this time of year so I thought that for this round of gift ideas I would highlight some of the things I am coveting this year. Given the amount of time I spend in the kitchen, I am always keen to get a new gadget.


All of the gifts featured are available at Cookworks (big plug because my mom works there and it is a local business - support the local!) and Cookworks has graciously offered all Eat Drink Be Happy readers a 15% off code for their online store. See below for details!


First on my list are the Le Creuset Cocottes (and a large Dutch oven, but these are easier to lift!). When my husband and I were in Paris, cocottes were all the rage - we even had dinner at a restaurant named Les Cocottes. This tiny little pots are perfect for single servings of custards, souffles or even as a cheeky way to serve soup. The fennel colour is my new favourite.

Les Creuset Cocottes Set

Next, I would really like some silicone muffin cups. If you have ever forfeited a lovely muffin because it has stuck to the pan...you need these. Nonstick and infinitely reusable!

Danesco Silicone Muffin Cup Liners

Okay. I never had much use for peelers. To be totally honest, out of laziness and a desire to eat as much fibre-containing peel as I can, I have never owned a peeler. Until I got one of these, I used to struggle to "peel" squash with a knife. This little inexpensive gadget changed my food prep life. Super sharp - you have been warned.

Swiss Mar Carbon Blade Peeler.


I want to be a master macaron chef. Not to sell...just to impress the pants off guests (and save myself 1.50 - 2.50 per cookie!). This set will help take the guesswork out of the process.

Mastrad Macaron Set

My husband is a big whisky drinker. I bought him his first set of Whisky Rocks a while back and they are a big hit. For those who like their scotch neat, these little natural stones get things chilled without diluting the good stuff. Perfect for the single malt connoisseur on your list.

Whisky Rocks

From today through December 23rd, enjoy a 15% off discount at www.cookworks.ca with the promo code EAT15 . The discount applies to only regular priced merchandise and cannot be combined with any other offers.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Desiree

PS. Thank you to Cookworks for offering such a generous discount to EDBH readers! As always, the idea for this post and the opinions contained in this post were unsolicited and completely my own - if I ever choose to start accepting sponsored posts, I will let my readers know.

Be Happy...Healthy Holiday Gifts

It's Christmastime, so that can only mean one thing...the 12 blog posts of Christmas!!!


I am a bit of a Christmas freak. I love the glitter and twinkle lights and holiday cheer. It almost makes me forget that the days are dark and damp and that we are far from the warmth of beach season. Now that it is December 1st, I am thinking all about Christmas goodies.  Just for fun, this month I am going to feature some of my favourite things that have come across my path in 2011 that would be perfect to give or receive this holiday season. 


Since my bookshelves are creaking under the weight of my bibliophilic tendencies, I can think of no better place to start than books. I have placed all of these books in my Amazon shop, just to make things easy for you this holiday season!


Spilling the Beans by Julie van Rosendaal and Sue Duncan


Any book that devotes itself to the humble bean is okay by me. By far and away, the main reason I hear cited for not including more beans in your diet is not knowing what to do with them. Well, now you know! 


Food Cures by Joy Bauer MS RD CDN with Carol Svec


This book, written by uber-dietitian Joy Bauer, is the nutrition geek's saving grace. Want to know what foods to eat for better skin? Check page 63. Need a grocery list to help you fight heart disease? See page 141. If you believe like I do that food is your medicine, this is the book for you.


Une Journee a El Bulli by Ferran Adria


I recently saw the El Bulli documentary at the Vancouver Film Fest and it reminded me that I have this in my book shelf. I devoured it in just a single day after receiving it a couple of Christmases ago. El Bulli closed its doors before I ever got a chance to dine there (sigh!) as the height of culinary creativity. This is hardcore foodie fare. It masquerades as a cookbook but if you are brave enough to get out the dry ice for the margarita, you've got one up on me.


Seasons by Donna Hay 


I am a huge Donna Hay fan...where can I sign up for her job? The ultimate food stylist turned cookbook author turned magazine editor, now food TV star, released this "best of" book which compiles recipes from her magazine. The pictures are gorgeous and many of the recipes are, as always, refreshingly simple.


Food Rules by Michael Pollan, illustrated by Maira Kalman


Michael Pollan, patron saint of conscious food consumerism, has deftly released a new illustrated version of his food rules book just in time for the season of consumerism. I couldn't resist. The perfect, entertaining read as you sit on the couch post turkey dinner.

Eat....Monster Cookies

Yum....here are my mother-in-law's Monster Cookies...photo taken with their Canon camera...still hoping I get a new one in my stocking!

It's almost Christmas and inevitably, we will all be eating some holiday treats, including me. (Yes, Virginia, dietitians do eat holiday treats!) Unfortunately, my little one, E, appears not to tolerate wheat in his breast milk so I have been eating fewer treats than I would normally enjoy over the holiday season. In my desire to have something festive to nibble on I have been making a ridiculous amount of Rice Krispie treats, even crafting a salted caramel variety, which I promise to share in a future post. Not the most thrilling of treats but a worthy substitute when everyone else is noshing.

My mother-in-law is a serious holiday baker. We are talking mountains of baking: one Christmas I assisted her for 8 hours straight of baking. So when my mother-in-law mentioned holiday baking and I sullenly replied...."but I can't eat wheat!" she triumphantly mentioned that her monster cookie recipe doesn't contain any flour. So of course I instantly thought - I need to share these with you!

Not for the dietetically faint of heart, these really are a monster of a cookie. Lots of eggs and good old fashioned sugar and fat for your holiday pleasure. However, they are not without their merits among lesser cookies. To their credit, monster cookies are 100% whole grain, contain a reasonable amount of protein and far less sugar then some other recipes. They are wheat free and can be gluten free if you ensure all your ingredients are gluten free, such as the chocolate chips. You could make these cookies dairy free with a switch of candies. And not that I would ever advocate cookies for breakfast but in a pinch one of these could keep you going if you have to scram out of the house because you still have Christmas presents to buy 5 days before Christmas (not that I am speaking from experience...). 

Recipe: Monster-in-Law (just kidding, I totally love my mother-in-law) Cookies

My mother-in-law got this recipe a couple of decades ago from a neighbour so I don't know if there is an original source I can attribute this recipe to....my apologies!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cream together the following ingredients in a really, really big bowl:

1 1/2 cups butter or vegan butter (3/4 pound)  Go for organic butter if you can afford it...
9 eggs Ditto on the organic eggs....
2 cups brown sugar
2 cups white sugar
2 1/4 lb peanut butter (just over one kilogram)
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp corn syrup
6 tsp baking soda

Then add the following to the creamed mixture and get your strongest armed family member to mix:

1/2 lb plain M&M candies
1/2 lb peanut M&M candies
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
13 1/2 cups oatmeal (yes, not a typo....that is thirteen and a half cups of regular quick cooking oats, not instant and not thick or steel cut oats)

Once mixed, drop by spoonful (about 1/4 cup batter) onto cookie sheets and bake for 12 - 15 minutes.

The recipe makes 8 - 10 dozen snack/meal sized cookies, depending on how big you make them. Perfect for bake sales, gifts and fattening up relatives you don't like too much.

Merry Christmas,
Desiree

Eat...Winter Apple Parsnip Bake

One of the things I love most about my SPUD produce box (besides the fact that the groceries come to me and they use local and organic producers first) is that my cooking strategy changes from "what do I feel like making" to "how can I use the contents of my produce drawer?" It forces you to get a bit more creative which is good for your health and good for your taste buds. 


I have been staring down some parsnips for a while and wasn't sure what I wanted to do with them. Parsnips, called "carrots with attitude" by Rachel Ray, are a local root veggie that have a sharp spiciness to them that lends well to a bit of time in the old oven. Even though they lack colour, parsnips aren't just nutritional filler: they are a source of fibre, heart loving potassium, bone building calcium and folate for a healthy nervous system. I figured I would sweeten them up a bit so my husband might like them. He thinks that this would be a nice side dish for some pork tenderloin but I served it, of course, as a vegetarian main course over organic quinoa. The nice thing about this recipe is that it can be a completely 100 mile meal with a few adjustments.


Here is what resulted...I had a photo but it turned out so badly I thought I wouldn't bother putting it up. I am hoping Santa will deliver a new camera. 


Recipe: Winter Apple Parsnip Bake


Preheat oven to 375 degrees


4 medium parsnips, cubed or sliced
2 medium apples, cubed or sliced
1 medium leek, sliced
2 cups canned or precooked chick peas, drained


2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (substitute butter for a 100 mile recipe)
1/2 cup demerara sugar (substitute honey for a 100 mile recipe)
pinch salt


2 tbsp butter, cut into small pieces


In a 9x9 baking dish or a 9 inch pie plate, combine all ingredients except for butter and toss well. Then add butter on top. You could cube the parsnips and apples so they are uniform with the chick peas or slice them. 


Bake for 15 minutes, stir and bake for 15 more minutes or until parsnips are tender. I think this would also be tasty curried: Add 1-2 tbsp curry powder and reduce sugar by half and add 1/4 cup raisins if you like them. 


Serve over your favourite whole grain like quinoa, barley, brown rice or buckwheat.


Happy Holidays,
Desiree

Drink...something festive!

How cultured...martinis and music! The Harvest Pear Martini makes its debut at my friend's cocktail party.

Yes, this is still a nutrition blog. But let's be honest: when I am at work, the number of phone calls and emails I receive from customers plummets spectacularly from December 1 to the 24th. Pretty much no one wants to talk nutrition in December (but come January 1st, you're mine!). So why not share a cocktail recipe?


My friends A & S hosted a "create your own cocktail" party last weekend and I thought I had better bring my A game. My friend, A, was busy infusing tequilas with all sorts of goodies so I grabbed the Grey Goose and got to work. Usually people recommend infusing inexpensive vodkas but I was too lazy to get E into the stroller and Grey Goose is what we had in the cupboard.


As a base for the drink, I infused one cup of Grey Goose with one cinnamon stick and one organic fair trade vanilla bean (premium vodka demands premium vanilla!). I left the cinnamon stick in for just a day as I figured that the cinnamon would overpower the vanilla and I was right. So give the vanilla a good week to infuse. Another tip: ensure that the infusing ingredients are submerged in the vodka. The cup of vodka will make about 6 drinks...be sure to share!


Harvest Pear Martini (way lighter than a rum and egg nog. There is my "nutrition" angle.)


1 oz infused vodka
1/2 oz Navan vanilla cognac
1 1/2 oz Knudsen's organic pear juice


Shake with lots of ice in a cocktail shaker and strain into martini glass. Serve with a twist of lime and enjoy!


Happy Holidays,
Desiree


PS. If you have noticed my conspicuous absence this month (sure you have...) I was without internet for almost 3 1/2 weeks. Hard to believe in this day and age but it's true! Thanks Telus.