Sawata

Actor Boy has this idea that doing a theatrical piece with his mother is an interesting work to create.  We started this voyage with a simple improvised stage piece that we (he did most of it) performed for small theater festivals locally and on the west coast.  It was reasonably successful and we had alot of fun comments about how cool for a mother and son to go on stage together.

Not enough.  Actor Boy decided we should do another piece.  Our ancestry is from Poland so his idea was to travel back to Poland and research our geneology and find our Polish roots.  It's been quite a ride and I just returned from our second trip to Poland.  The first trip in November 2013 was about research.  We drove all around Poland's countryside, went to both my parents' home towns, were able to find documents and history, met alot of people and ate alot of Polish food.  It was good.  This trip was slightly different.  We spent 2 weeks in a theatre that was entirely black (they call it a black box theatre - imagine that), working on creating a piece of work, or part of it and then performing for a couple of audiences who would give us feedback and suggestions.  We would start early in the morning and work until about 8 p.m. and start all over again the next morning.  That shattered any notion of this being a trip to a foreign country being even remotely romantic.

The one thing I managed to salvage for my own interests was learning more about Polish food.  Most local food is heavily meat laden but since I was travelling with 6 other people, most of whom were either vegetarian or vegan we didn't spend much time sampling local meat meals.  I did learn to take some meat meals and adjust them and learned a whole lot about salads.

My favourite salad, a potato type salad is called Sawata.  I had to come home and make it right away.  It's a little time consuming with all the tiny chopping but so worth it and I even found some shortcuts.

Ingredients

3-4 potatoes boiled in their jackets and cooled
3-4 hard boiled eggs
2-3 dill pickles, diced small (I used Vlasic pickles)
peas and carrots - I used 1/2 bag of frozen peas and carrots - worked great
(if you prefer you can boil 4 carrots with the potatoes, dice small and add canned,drained peas at the end)
2 Tbsp chopped parsley
1 heaping Tbsp dijon mustard
3-4 Tbsp mayonnaise

Directions

1.  Boil potatoes and cool before peeling
2.  Dice potatoes, eggs, dill pickles really small and add to bowl
3.  Add 1/2 bag or more (1 1/2 cups) frozen peas and carrots
4.  Add mustard and mayo and gently combine all finishing with the chopped parsley.

So so good.  This salad is a staple for all Polish celebrations.  There's really no set way to make it and I've seen it with boiled parsnip in it as well - equally as good.

Quinoa Chickpea and Feta Salad

My favourite son in law "R" (he's also my only son in law) and I have this rather interesting relationship.  The banter between us (zinging is probably a better word) is pretty ongoing.  He loves to get to me and two of his favourite topics are usually around our well known mayor Rob Ford or how dedicated we are to posting on the blog.  He probably cares very little about each topic and when I give it right back to him, he'll turn to whoever happens to be in the room and say "you see what I have to put up with".

Occasionally I'll get an email from him asking if I have any good recipes.  He's always attracted to the healthier vegetarian recipes and he'll review what I send him and surprisingly will find something that interests him and he goes ahead and makes it.  Pretty impressive.

Recently he went on one of his rants saying he'll be doing a guest post and make sure he puts both Psychgrad and me to shame.  The rant goes something like this:

R:  I haven't seen you post anything lately.  What's going on???

Me:  I posted not long ago.

R:  I take pictures and nobody ever puts up what I make.

Me:  You want me to put up something you made?

R:  Well, don't you think you should be? .... you get the idea.

I recently sent him a blogpost for Quinoa Chickpea and Feta Salad and he made it.  I asked him where the picture was and he actually had taken a picture and sent it to me.  WOW!!  So "R" here's your post. Your salad looks pretty darned amazing.

1 cup quinoa (beige or red or black)

1 cup water

1 can chickpeas, rinsed, drained

1 1/2 chopped unpeeled cucumbers

1 pint cherry or baby heirloom tomatoes, halved

1 cup roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley

1 cup sliced baby spinach leaves

1 1/2 cups crumbled feta cheese

1/4 cup red wine or balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon honey

1/3 cup olive oil

2 teaspoons smoked Spanish paprika

To taste Salt and pepper

Bring quinoa and water to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, simmer until tender, about 10-15 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine chickpeas, tomatoes, cucumber, parsley, spinach and about half of the feta.

Gently toss in the cooled quinoa; do not overmix or stir.

Whisk vinegar, salt, honey and smoked paprika in small bowl. Gradually whisk in oil. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Drizzle over the combined salad ingredients; toss gently. Add vinaigrette; avoid overdressing. Top with feta; serve immediately.

Kale Salad & Kale and Mushroom Quiche

With all of the cake, pie and muffins we've posted about lately, it's probably time to throw a healthy meal into the mix.  Don't worry -- there are more of them than what we post about.

I was very excited to see The Leafy Greens Cookbook sitting in my mailbox when we returned from visiting Giz in Toronto.  Our friends at Ulysses Press offered to send us a review copy of the book.  I couldn't resist checking it out, since we're always trying to find new, healthy recipes.  I'm looking forward to trying out many of the recipes.

To start, I was instantly drawn to the simplicity of the Kale Salad with Avocados.  I liked that the recipe included almonds and avocados, both ingredients known for being good fats (monounsaturated) to include in your diet.  Plus, I've been determined to incorporate more kale into our meal planning.

I have had some challenges with raw kale since I've only recently learned that it requires more time to absorb dressings.  I had to laugh when a friend talked about massaging the kale.  I envisioned pieces of kale laid out while I worked out the tension.  In reality, it just means mixing the kale with the dressing for a couple of minutes.  It makes a difference!

First, I started by cutting out the stalk from the kale.

Kale Salad with Avocado

Juice of 1 lemon (about 1/4 cup)
1/4 cup olive oil
4 cups packed de-stemmed chopped kale
1/2 cup slivered almonds (I just did a rough chop of whole almonds)
1 ripe avocado, diced
1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
salt and pepper

In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste.  Massage the dressing on the kale, and top with the almonds, avocado, and cherry tomatoes. Serve within 1 hour of cutting the avocado and adding the dressing.



I paired the salad with a Mushroom and Kale Quiche.  It was my second time making this quiche.

Mushroom and Kale Quiche

1 tbsp olive oil
2 shallots, chopped
8 cremini mushrooms, sliced
2 cups packed de-stemmed chopped kale
1/4 cup chopped roasted red pepper
6 eggs (I used a 500g pkg of liquid egg whites)
1/4 cup milk
3/4 cup grated cheese (we used marble...gouda would be good too)
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Fry shallots in olive oil until translucent.  Add sliced mushrooms.  After mushrooms begin to soften, add kale.  The kale will shrivel when it is added to the frying pan.  Once these ingredients have cooked (about 10 minutes from start to finish in the frying pan), set aside to cool slightly.

Whisk eggs and milk together.  Add chopped roasted red pepper and the slightly cooled mushroom and kale mixture to the eggs.  Stir in about 1/2 of the cheese.  Salt and pepper, to taste.

Pour egg mixture into a circular pie plate that has been sprayed Pam (or something like Pam).  Spread remaining cheese on top of quiche.

Cook until quiche is cooked through and browned, as desired.

There's just something so refreshing about a meal like this.  It's simple, but good for you.  Plus, both components can easily be modified to include your favourite ingredients.  

Peanut Butter Boy & Tangled Thai Salad

About a year and a half ago, Peanut Butter Boy (aka: Nick) contacted us about trying out some peanut butter samples for a line of PB that he was developing.  Nick started out as a food blogger who blogged about peanut butter recipes.  With all of his experience cooking and baking with peanut butter, Nick began to focus more on the quality of the peanut butter he was using.  In his search for the perfect peanut butter, Nick decided to take matters into his own hands and developed his own line of peanut butter.  

For now, Peanut Butter Boy has two peanut butters to choose from: Super Smooth and Crunch Power. Both peanut butters include only three ingredients: roasted peanuts, palm oil and sea salt. 

Since the peanut butter uses no fillers and is vegan-friendly, I knew I wanted to use it to make a vegan meal for friends we had invited for dinner.  I searched around for vegan salad dressings that include peanut butter and found this recipe for Fresh Restaurant's Tangled Thai Salad.  Even though the list of ingredients is long, I was drawn in by the pictures and a desire to try some ingredients that I don't normally use.  

Ingredients

Salad

• 1 cup chopped napa cabbage
• 1⁄3 cup jicama, cut into small sticks
• 2⁄3 cup peeled raw carrot, spiralized (or cut/peeled into julienne)
• 2⁄3 cup peeled raw yellow beets, spiralized (or cut into julienne)
• 4 tbsp Peanut Lime Dressing (recipe follows)
• 3 slices cucumber, halved (or cut into julienne)
• 2 tsp chopped raw peanuts
• 2 tbsp Fresh Salad Topper (recipe follows)
• 1⁄4 lime
• Cilantro to taste

Peanut Lime Dressing

• 1 tbsp ginger, peeled and chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 3⁄4 tsp sambal oelek (a South Asian chili sauce)
• 2 tbsp cilantro, densely packed
• 2 tbsp natural peanut butter
• 2 tbsp plus 2 tsp lime juice
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp plus 1⁄2 tsp tamari (a type of soy sauce)
• 1-1⁄2 tsp organic sugar
• 2 tsp coconut milk
• 3⁄4 tsp sesame oil
• 1⁄2 cup sunflower oil (or extra virgin olive oil)

Fresh Salad Topper

• 1 cup puffed quinoa (optional)
• 1⁄4 cup goji berries
• 1⁄4 cup currants (optional)
• 2 tbsp sliced almonds
• 2 tbsp hazelnuts, chopped
• 2 tbsp pistachios, chopped
• 1⁄4 tsp sea salt

Panko Crusted Tofu

• ½ block of tofu (about 225 g)
• 3 tbsp cornstarch
• ¼ cup Japanese panko breadcrumbs
• 3 tbsp coconut or peanut oil

Instructions

Peanut Lime Dressing

1. In a blender, purée all but sunflower oil. With blender running, add oil in a thin stream.
2. Makes 1 cup, enough for 4 salads

Here is the dressing with just some of the ingredients.  I made a double recipe of the dressing.

Fresh Salad Topper

1. Put all ingredients into a bowl and mix.
2. Makes approx. 1-3/4 cups; refridgerate unused portion

Panko Crusted Tofu

1. Slice tofu into 1 inch rectangles or triangles.
2. Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat.
3. Place cornstarch and breadcrumbs in two separate small bowls. Coat tofu pieces with cornstarch, and then press breadcrumbs into them.
4. Fry until golden brown on both sides. Pat dry with paper towels and set aside.

Salad

1. Put cabbage into a large bowl and top with jicama. Pile the carrot and beet strands on top and drizzle with Peanut Lime Dressing.

 

2. Garnish with cucumber, peanuts, Fresh Salad Topper, lime and cilantro.

Verdict: 

The salad was delicious!  The dressing really makes it.  I wish I knew how to mix ingredients to create a blend like this without a recipe.  I need to do more experimenting.  The peanut butter was just one of many ingredients.  I  have also tried some on a spoon and loved the flavour.  But, I'll need to continue to try the peanut butter in other recipes!  

There were some bumps in the process of making the salad.  For one, it took quite a while to put together -- between getting the ingredients (I never did find jicama, so I substituted Asian pear) and all of the chopping.  Yet another reminder that I need to be more prepared.  Sometimes I over-estimate how productive I can be with a baby in tow.  Thankfully, E was happy to hang out on my back while I made dinner.  Yay for babywearing!

Another challenge was trying to puff quinoa.  I Googled what this meant.  But, really had no idea what I was doing.  I tried to keep shaking the pot, so as to avoid burnt quinoa.  But, I still ended up burning it.  Below is my dutch oven, sitting on my balcony to avoid the burnt smell from circulating in the house.

Arthritis Health and Nutrition

Note: this post was written by Giz.  Your reader may say that it was written by Psychgrad because she took and uploaded the pictures.

We all know about arthritis.  I remember, as a teenager hearing people talk about their "arthritis" while they were rubbing their joints and saying alot of "oy" and giving a knowing nod to one another as brothers and sisters understanding each other's pain.  My thoughts then were: "what could be so bad and why so much drama about a little arthritis?"

I'm grown up now and have a whole new outlook on the whole arthritis thing.  Arthritis is really quite a general term for a family of approximately 100 different presentations and degrees of what is typically symptomized by joint paint.  The most common - osteoarthritis - is something I share my life with and frankly the relationship is not so satisfying.  When the opportunity presented itself for a complimentary copy of The Complete Arthritis Health, Diet Guide and Cookbook from Robert Rose Publishers , I jumped at it.  I'd always heard the expression that the worst thing you can do is "nothing" so I've made a point of swimming daily.  The pool seems to be the least painful way to exercise and after an hour of constant movement, you feel so much better.  Seriously.

The book, written by dietician Kim Arrey and Dr. Michael R. Starr, is a clear look at what arthritis is, how it affects you while giving you 125 easy to follow recipes to help you change your narrative through a common sense diet.  I've learned so much about the foods that both increase and decrease inflammation that the recipes, although wonderful, rank second to the learning of what works and what doesn't in terms of nutrition.  Although making even small changes can be somewhat intimidating, the book suggests the little steps such as replacing white potatoes with sweet potatoes, incorporating more vegetables and legumes in your diet and joining an aquafit class at least a couple of times a week.  I'll be using this book as a bible for feeling better, that's a for sure!  If someone in your family is challenged with any form of arthritis, I encourage you to gift them this year with this gift of good health.  Trust me, it'll be so appreciated.

This past weekend Psychgrad, R and Ms. E came for a visit and we invited the family over for dinner to celebrate the welcoming of our precious Ms. E to the family.  She's already wormed her way into the hearts of all of us and will go through her first year being the most photographed child in the history of our family.  She's already showing signs of strong interest in technology and loves to look at pictures of herself.  Is there such a thing as vanity at the age of 3 months?

We incorporated some of what I've learned in The Complete Arthritis Health, Diet Guide and Cookbook  in our menu planning.  I decided to go with some interesting looking dishes that Marie of Proud Italian Cook.  The first is a Vegetable Torta that's made up of any number of roasted vegetables that you may have on hand or chose specifically to use.   We cut up the following vegetables and roasted them in a 425 F oven tossed with olive oil and kosher salt.

1 Sicilian Eggplant

A whole head of Cauliflower

Medium Butternut Squash

8 oz mixed Mushrooms

1/2 Package of Frozen Spinach

Cut the vegetables (round veg in rounds)   After roasting the vegetables, let them cool.  We used a 9 inch springform pan and began with a thin layer of sweet potatoes.   

Shred 4 oz of Asiago Cheese and 6 oz of Mozarella Cheese.  The cheeses become the glue that holds it all together.

Continue to layer and push firmly into place after each layer adding a small amount of asiago and mozarella.  Top with sweet potatoes and finish with the cheeses.

Cover your torta with aluminum foil and bake for 15 minutes; uncover and bake for another 20 minutes or until nicely golden.

The second dish that is more of an adaptation is so simple and so delicious.  

1 head of leaf lettuce

3 small zucchinis (make into ribbons with your vegetable peeler applying strong pressure)

4 oz broken up feta cheese

slivered almonds to top

We made a simple Greek dressing with 3 parts olive oil, 1 part red wine vinegar, 1 clove crushed garlic, oregano, 1 Tbsp dijon mustard and a splash of fresh lemon juice.

Grill the zucchini until it begins to brown

Add to the lettuce with feta and dress.

Top with almonds and voila - deeeelicious.

Thai Seafood Salad for Canada Day and the Cooking Light Supper Club

HAPPY CANADA DAY

Canada Day, also known as Canada's Birthday is known as a day of celebration by Canadians at home and abroad.  Equally as significant on this day is the Oath of Citizenship ceremony that takes place welcoming immigrants as new Canadians (officially).  I was once one who took that oath and feel very proud to be called a Canadian.  A country of diversity, what could be more appropriate to prepare than an ethnic dish that speaks to an immigrant group that has brought us their culture and their cuisine.

My contribution to the Cooking Light Virtual Supper Club is a Thai Seafood Salad.  All the elements of typical Thai cuisine come through in this dish with a depth of texture that makes my mouth extremely happy.

• 1/4 cup water
• 8 ounces sea scallops
• 1 pound peeled and deveined medium shrimp
• 5 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 2 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon chile paste with garlic
• 1 cup red bell pepper strips
• 1/2 cup chopped red onion
• 1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
• 8 ounces lump crabmeat, drained and shell pieces removed
• 2 fresh lemongrass stalks, trimmed and thinly sliced (I omitted this)
• 1 cucumber, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced

Preparation

1. Bring 1/4 cup water to a simmer in a large skillet. Add scallops to pan; cover and cook 3 minutes or until done. Remove scallops from pan with a slotted spoon; pat scallops dry with paper towels. Place scallops in a large bowl. Add shrimp to simmering water in pan; cover and cook 3 minutes or until done. Drain well; add to scallops.

2. While scallops and shrimp cook, combine lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, and chile paste; stir to dissolve sugar.

3. Add juice mixture, bell pepper, and remaining ingredients to scallop mixture; toss gently to combine.

What are the others in the Cooking Light Virtual Supper Club doing?

Val from More Than Burnt Toast made a salad of Marinated Mozzarella and Pepper (like the red and white theme going on here)

Shelby of The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch with a main of Lobster Rolls

Sandi from The Whistlestop Cafe Cooking made Grilled Zucchini with Caprese Salad.

Helene of  La Cuisine Helene.com/ made Fresh Squeezed Limonade

Jerry from  Jerry's Thoughts Musings and Rants  brought Strawberry Parfaits for dessert.

I'd say we've got quite the picnic - wouldn't you?