A Meatless Monday

I slipped into the meeting room late, and found I was in a food lab.

Lunch and Learn sessions are usually a bring-your-lunch-and-listen-to-a-lecture affair, but this one, "Where's the meat?", was evidently going to be hands on.  Yum!

Jennifer Livingstone of WholeSUM Nutrition Consulting touched on some of the different kinds of vegetarianism (Semi, Lacto-ovo, Lacto, Vegan) and additional nutritional considerations that are needed for vegetarian eating:

1. Protein sources
2. Iron sources (how to increase absorption from plant-based sources)
3. Calcium
4. Vitamin D (suggestions a supplement for everyone between Oct-Mar)
5, Zinc, omega-3 fatty acids, and vitamin B12


all the while preparing food! 

Colourful vegetables transformed into a fresh salad and salsa.  Beans and lentils were highlighted in a (pre-prepared) stew and (pre-prepared) veggie-burger patties. 

I wasn't surprised vegetarian meals could taste so good, but I was surprised by how much oil was used in the recipes.  Granted, these were healthy oils.  So overall the meals were still healthy?  I was told moderation is still required: One could still overeat / eat too many calories with vegetarian meals.  Yeah, especially the Spiced Roasted Chickpeas (yum), but anything with soy cheese (yuck)?  

The following recipes I enjoyed from the session, but not sure if I'll likely make them -- I guess we'll see!

Spiced Roasted Chickpeas with Walnuts
(Source: Julie Van Rosendaal and Sue Duncan, Spilling the Beans)

Ingredients:
- 1 can (540 ml) chickpeas, rinsed and well drained
- 1/3 cup canola or olive oil
- 1 tsp (5 ml) ground cumin
- 1 tsp (5 ml) paprika
- 1 tsp (5 ml) coarse salt, or to taste
- 1/2 tsp (2.5 ml) freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
-  1 to 2 cups (250 to 500 ml), walnut halves

Combine and roast on baking sheet until golden.
Should keep for 2-3 weeks. 


Quinoa Greek Salad 
(Source: Rose Reisman, The Complete Light Kitchen)

Ingredients:
- 2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
- 1 cup quinoa (rinsed to remove bitter-tasting potentially intestine-irritating seed coating)
- 1/2 cup each diced green pepper, red pepper, and English cucumber (skin on)
- 1/4 cup each chopped green onion, sliced black olives, and diced red onion
- 2/3 cup light feta cheese, crumbled
- 1 1/2 tsp grated lemon zest
- 1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp each minced fresh garlic and dried basil
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1/3 cup chopped fresh basil or parsley

Directions:
- Bring stock to boil in saucepan.  Stir in quinoa.  Reduce neat to medium-low, cover and cook for 15 minutes, or until the quinoa is tender and the liquid has been absorbed.  Transfer to a large serving bowl and set aside to cool.
- Add green pepper, red pepper, English cucumber, green onion, black olives, red onion and feta to the cool quinoa. 
- Whisk lemon zest, juice, olive oil, garlic, dried basil, oregano and ground black pepper in a small bowl and then pour over the quinoa mixture.  Toss everything to coat well and garnish with basil / parsley.

Day 1, Part 3: Feast!

Steph: It was empty, but then filled with people in a few hours. 
Rem: And pigeons.
Steph:  Where were the people?
Rem: Where were the pigeons?

Time for Solstice Feast!  This probably would have felt like the longest day of the year for Jackie even if it wasn't actually summer solstice, but she still gamely joined us for dinner and our random conversations.

It was the first Feast with Rem and Steph back from vacation.  Rem fed us a delicious dahl*, with colourful salads and homemade bread. 

I took this as an opportunity to catch up and I learned:

1. Alan is a Canadian record holder as part of his swimming team (where 40 is the average age of its members). 

2. Keith in Calgary had to evacuate his condo because they had to shut down the power. 

3. Rem and Steph had a good time in Venice.  The Croatian islands were "Golly grand", with great seafood just living outside their rooms, roofs brown as terracotta, and ruins (over 2400 years old) were built right into the city.  Their photos here. 

4. Alan plans on "spending [his] time reading analogue books."

5. A flood watch has been declared in Edmonton and Erik's half marathon route is changed.

6. Lions and tigers from the Calgary zoo have been moved to the courthouse jail cells.

7. Neil and Kathy's trip to France was wet and flooded (in contrast to Rem and Steph's heat and sun).  They found there when castles go bad they turn into prisons. 

8.  When Alan makes a fist there's a vein that pulses there.  He seemed surprised we were so rapt with attention.  (Steph: "I don't think my blood goes down there.")

9 There are some really strange (and unfortunate) last names:
- Beaglehole
- Child-harmers (Alan: "Is it pronounced "Charmers"?")
- Pine-coffin

 

* Rem's Dahl, recipe of sorts:

 

1. Fry garlic, cumin seed, olive oil  for 2-3 minutes

2. Add ~ 2 cups lentils (mix of red, green, and French), ~ 5 cups water, bullion (or "Better than Bullion"), coriander, garam masala, sald and pepper

3. Cook for 2 hours, add a little water as necessary

4. With 1/2 cooking time left, add greens (kale and spinach)

Returned!

Paul is home!  No jumping for joy for me (I might get stuck :P), but there were definitely big hugs at the airport. 

Back at Paul's place, he took the reigns to cook dinner.  Starting with swiss chard from Mom and Dad's garden and a tried and true recipe*, he then played fast and loose with the spices... and does great! 

We split the bread - re-figuring out what parts we each like - and laughed at what would be a 3 week reunion.  We're as silly as ever, and the conversation is not what one would call romantic talk, but I am happy he's back. 

(Right: Just in time to sample some of Tiny Tim's wares)

* Curried Red Lentil and Swiss Chard Soup
Originally found in O Magazine.  There is a pretty important ingredient in here that's not in the name which made it difficult to search: Poor (nutrient-rich) chickpea / garbanzo bean - why did they exclude you?

We usually dice everything into small pieces upfront (including the swiss chard stems) and skip the puree part; don't bother with the salt; use a no fat yogurt; and have it as a meal with bread.  All in all a tasty and fairly healthy dish. 

Servings: Serves 6 (as a starter, or approximately 3 as a meal)

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion , thinly sliced
• 5 teaspoons curry powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper (cayenne)
• 5 cups vegetable broth
• 1 bunch (1-pound) Swiss chard , tough stalks removed, coarsely chopped
• 2 cups (about 14 ounces) dried red lentils
• 1 can (15-ounce) chickpeas , rinsed and drained
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons thick Greek yogurt , thinned with 2 tablespoons water
• 1 red or green jalapeño chili , stemmed and thinly sliced
• 1 lime , cut into 6 wedges

Directions

1. Heat oil in large, heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add onion; cook, stirring frequently, until lightly golden, about 10 minutes. Stir in curry and red pepper. Add 4 cups broth and chard; increase heat and bring to a boil, stirring until chard is wilted.

2. Stir in lentils and chickpeas. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 16 to 18 minutes, stirring twice, until lentils are tender.

3. Remove from heat. Puree half the soup (about 4 cups) in a blender or food processor; return puree to pot. Stir in remaining 1 cup broth and salt, and warm over low heat 2 minutes.

4. Divide soup among 6 bowls. Drizzle about 1 tablespoon thinned yogurt over each serving. Garnish with a few slices of jalapeño and a lime wedge.

Victorious Sponge!

Jackie's Birthday Cake Recipe
(For 1 layer of a 2 layer cake)

Ingredients

• 1 cup self rising flour (with additional for sprinkling)
• 4 ounces of margarine
• 2 eggs beaten at room temperature
• 4 oz or 1/2 cup sugar (white)
• milk as needed

Directions

1. Preheat Oven to 350 F
2. Cream margarine with sugar until light and fluffy (the more fluffy the lighter the cake)
3. Add small amounts of egg at a time to bowl and beat into margarine-sugar mixture, until all is incoporated.  Stop adding egg if curdling occurs (where mixture seems to be separating) and add a small amount of flour. 
4. Sift 1 cup of flour into mixture and fold into it in a figure-8 pattern (try not to mash out the air)
5. Add enough milk to make the mixture "drop" easily
6. Scoop mixture into cake tin and evenly spread
7. Bake for 25 minutes (or until golden and toothpick tested in centre comes out clean)
8. Cool in pan for 5 minutes and remove. 

Jackie guided me through all of this (essentially a Victoria Sponge cake - not a Victorious Sponge variant) and let me attempt one of the layers (a win!).  Butter icing goes between with some strawberry jam and covers the entire cake.  Am I the only one suprised that butter icing is pretty much just butter and icing sugar? 

Afterwards we played Scrabble and Paul and I visited the backyard.  I was a little disappointed most of the mystery bugs had gone, but we did catch one (right).  So, ladybug? 

Tomorrow's the big day: We'll eat cake!