Kitchen helper

With a new baby around the house its been a little bit more difficult to get into the kitchen to get things done....well that is where baby wearing comes in!!!

One of my dear friends let us borrow her babyhawk baby carrier for a little bit and it has been the best thing ever!! I have been using it a lot around the house so my hands are free to get things done when my little one wants to be close to me. Because we were expecting a winter baby we didn't bother getting a stroller so this carrier plus the Snuggli has been great for going out for walks.

Micah has also been enjoying the carrier as well. He usually spends the morning with the little guy and finds he can get lots done with two hands free!!!

Simple Granola

Hey...sorry I have been so long since the last post. Life is pretty busy with a teething 3 month old and my Dietitian exam is coming up next month. Every spare moment I have these days I have been spending it with my nose in my books.

I do want to share with you a recipe that a friend of mine shared with me. She makes this Granola monthly and gave me the recipe. Its from the cook book more with less. It has a delicious flavor that goes great with your morning cereal, is a lovely topping on yogurt and even is a great snack on its own.

Simple Granola

2 cups flour (I used 1 whole wheat and 1 white)
6 cups Large flake rolled oats
1 cup Coconut
1 cup wheat germ
1/2 tsp salt
* I also added cinnamon, nutmeg, sesame seeds, cornmeal, ground flax, and sunflower seeds.
1 cup oil
1 cup honey or corn syrup ( I used all corn syrup but my friend does 1/2 cup of each)
1/2 cup water
2 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 250.
2. Combine dry ingredients in large bowl
3. Blend wet ingredients into a 4 cup meauring cup
4. Add wet to dry and mix.
5. Spread onto greased 2 greased cookie sheets
6. Bake for 23 minutes then switch sheets and bake for 23 min or until dry and golden. ( I left mine a bit longer cause I like a harder granola)

7. Cool and then add
Raisins
Dried Cranberries
Nuts (almonds)
8. Store in air tight container





Granola is such a wonderful super food because the ingredients in it provide the body with essential vitamins and minerals it needs to function. Also many of the ingredients in it provide other GREAT benefits that will help you get through your day. Just to name a few; wheat germ is a delicious source of zinc, vitamin E, folate, and other B-complex vitamins. It helps the body maintain energy levels, enhances fat metabolism and helps to protect against heart disease. Oats are a great food because they help to lower levels of cholesterol while providing you with a great source of iron, fiber, protein, carbohydrates and folic acid. We all know that almonds have many healthy benefits and should be incorporated into your daily diet as they help maintain healthy body fat levels and strengthen the cardiovascular system.

No its not delivery

The perfect pizza dough recipe! 

1 cup warm water
2 1/4 tsp yeast (I use instant or quick)
2 Tbsp Vegetable oil
1 Tbsp Honey
2 1/2 cup Flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp Basil
1 tbsp Oregano

1. Add all ingredients into a stand mixer with the dough hook attached.  Mix together until a ball starts to form.  If you find the dough isn't coming together you can add 1 tsp of water.  

2. Kneed by hand for 1-2 minutes then place in a greased bowl and let rise (when using instant yeast you don't have to wait too long.

3. Roll dough out with a rolling pin.  Using parchment paper makes this step WAY easier.

There are 2 ways I cook pizza. 
1.  you can bake the dough at 350 for 10-15 minutes then add the toppings and bake for another 10 minutes
2.  Top the pizza with all ingredients and bake at 425 for 20 -25 minutes.


This pizza is a stuffed crust!  I freeze cheese strings (the all mozzarella work best) and wrap them up in the edges of the pizza dough.  It was deliciously gooey and turned out perfect.

The sky is the limit with pizza here are some toppings to try:

Chicken, salsa (instead of tomato sauce) lots of veggies
Chicken, BBQ sauce (instead of tomato sauce)
Ground Pork
Tomatoes, basil and feta cheese
Ham chunks with pineapple
Black beans with coconut
Steak and BBQ sauce
Spinach, tomatoes and feta cheese
Everything pizza....

Nutrtion Month is here!!

Happy Nutrition month!! This year the theme is

Spotlight on Food and Nutrition Dietitians Top 10 list what you need to know...

You can find out these top 10 by checking out The Dietitians of Canada website. I really enjoy how this years theme focuses on healthy food choices as a life style (and not just a quick fix) and physical activity. My favorite focus on the top 10 is making meal time a family affair. I think that in order for our children to become healthy eaters and physically active we as parents are the ones who need to be setting the standard. As a stay at home mom I find it very rewarding to have the privilege to serve my family with healthy foods. Now don't get me wrong what kind of Dietitian would I be if I didn't believe in moderation!!! Of course there is a place for foods with less nutrition to enter our home once in a while. However our convenience culture where everything is pre-made and packaged is harming our children more then we know it. Our children are the ones who are suffering from our fast past society where meal time and meal preparation is not of importance anymore. I am happy to be part of a profession that knows when we get back to work by planing out meals and doing a little bit of prep work we will begin to see a positive effect in not only our children's weight but also their over all well being. One thing that helps me to be a better meal planner is by printing off these monthly menus so I can make up a meal plan for our family. Its also great as we are trying to eat more lentils and beans instead of always having to have meat...when the meat free nights are written on the menu it allows Micah to prepare himself through out the day! hehe...


The website also has lots of fun things that you can check out while you are there. My new favorite addition to the site is their recipe analyzer. Its a great new feature that allows you to enter in your favorite recipes to see how healthy (or not) they are. I have been using it a lot for recipes that I change around to see if I am improving their nutritional value.

So this month why not make your own list of goals that you and your family can do to eat better and get active this year!! If you have some I would love to hear them!!

Making Yogurt

Last week Eben and I spent the day with a friend of ours from the church. While making bread we got talking about making yogurt. She told me that her family use to do it as well and they had a yogurt maker. They don't make it much anymore so she let me borrow it to try to make our own yogurt. All it takes to make yogurt is 1 L of milk and 1 Tbsp of yogurt. Its nice to have the machine but if you don't you can leave it in the oven with just the oven light on for the same amount of time.

To make the yogurt you begin by bringing 1 L of milk to a boil. I used homogenized milk so I would have a nice and creamy yogurt, however 2%,1% and skim works just as well. Once the milk is boiling you let it cool. Now this is the tricky part because the machine I used had a thermometer with it that didn't have any numbers on it just an "add starter" line. If anyone makes their own yogurt and knows the temperature please let me know. Once it reaches that temperature you add 1 heaping Tbsp of plain yogurt, this can be yogurt you purchased from the grocery store . Then you pour the milk mixture into these glasses and then place them into the machine that is plugged in and let it stand for 10 hours.



After 10 hours the yogurt looks like this


You can eat the yogurt just as is. The plain yogurt is a good substitute to use in baking and we have found that it is an excellent substitute for sour cream!! You can also make different flavors of yogurt just by adding different fruits to it. Jams are great to add to it as well as frozen or pureed fruits. This is blueberry yogurt topped with flax seed!!!




I wanted to start making yogurt because its a great quick snack that is full of calcium and protein. However I have found that its getting expensive so I wanted to see if it would be cheaper to make it my self (since we buy plain yogurt most of the time and flavor it ourself). To start making yogurt you need to buy 1 L of milk and a small container of plain yogurt for the starter. This is the initial cost; however once you make one batch of your own yogurt you can use yours as a starter instead of going out and buying yogurt every time you want to make yogurt. Also the machine makes 1 L of yogurt which is more then you can buy in the store, the containers are about 750 grams. So I believe that it will be cheaper for me to make the yogurt for $1. 99 instead of buying it! Now I know from being a very good sale shopper that you can buy yogurt for this price when it goes on sale; which isn't too often! Making your own also helps you know what is in the yogurt because you don't need to use store bought yogurt as a starter you can go to a Natural food store and find yogurt starter. I am going to check that out sometime this week!!!

I'm Back!!!

It seems like it has been a long time since I have had any time to just sit down and write on here. Yet at the same time I can't believe how fast the time has gone. Since I last wrote I now have a new little helper who keeps me very busy...but when he is sleeping I now have time to get back into the kitchen and create!!

This past week I had the privilege of having my sister-in-law come and visit for a couple of days. So I took advantage of the situation and we created lots of food to keep us going for the next week or so.

The first day she was here we made a wonderful "soup" supper. We started the meal off with a lovely pumpkin soup that Shiloh made with a pumpkin she got this past fall. After peeling it and cooking it, we pureed it, added lots of yummy spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, garlic) along with some cream. We topped the soup of with some plain yogurt and dried chives and served it with some of the pumpkin seeds we had roasted!


We also enjoyed some delicious rolls that we made


We ended our soup night with a delicious pumpkin cake that we made with the left over pumpkin we had pureed. We created the cake on the spot as we used a pumpkin muffin recipe as a foundation.

Pumpkin Cake
1/2 cup non-hydrogenated Margarine
/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 Tbsp ground flax seed mixed in 3 Tbsp of water
1 cup pumpkin
2 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp each. salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger
Optional: Chocolate Chips, pecans or walnuts

Step 1: In a small bowl soak 1 Tbsp of ground flax seed in 3 Tbsp of water and set aside. In a large bowl cream together margarine and sugar. Add egg to mixture and mix. Add in flax mixture and mix. Stir in pumpkin

Step 2: Combine all dry ingredients together

Step 3: Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix well. If adding chocolate or nuts mix them in here.

Step 4: Grease a bunt pan. To add a little extra flavor mix together some sugar and cinnamon. Coat the inside of the pan with this mixture!! Spread cake mix into pan and bake at 350 for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Step 5: Enjoy!!!


As you can see from the picture I topped the cake with some left over icing sugar frosting I had in the fridge and served it with a square of dark chocolate and a hot cup of green mint tea!

Keeping the weight off this holiday season

This Christmas season don't get so up tight about the fat and calories that are in many of our favorite holiday treats instead makeover your family’s favorite recipes by altering the fat, fibre and sugar content without scarifying the flavor or quality.

Ways to Reduce Fat While Cooking

© Trim all visible fat from meats and remove the skin off of the turkey.

© Drain the grease off of cooked meats before adding other ingredients.

© Sauté with broth instead of oil.

© Allow oil to get hot prior to adding ingredients. Foods soak up cold oil faster then they do hot.

© Making soups and strews in advance and skim the fat off that rises to the top. This is also good for making gravy as well.

© Cooking with herbs and spices will give your foods great flavor without extra calories or fat.

© Use only half the amount of cheese that your recipes call for.

© Roast, grill, steam, boil, broil, and baking are great cooking methods that offer the lowest amount of fat.

Ways to Reduce Fat and Increase Fibre when Baking

© Substitute skim milk or 1% in recipes requiring whole milk or cream.

© Substitute whole wheat flour for half of the white flour in recipes

© Use non-hydrogenated margarine instead of butter or shortening.

© Replace 1 whole egg with 2 egg whites or ¼ cup egg substitute.

© Use 3Tbsp dry cocoa plus 1Tbsp oil instead of 1 ounce of baking chocolate.

© Replace one whole egg in the recipe with 1 Tbsp of ground flax seed mixed with 3 Tbsp of water.

© Replace half of the fat called for in the recipe with mashed banana, apple sauce or fat free yogurt.

© Use only half the amount of sugar that the original recipe calls for.

There are some tips I hope will help you this holiday season! Have a very Merry Christmas!