My First Whole Foods Trip and Stir Fried Rice

What a lovely day it has been today. It reached about 17 degrees C, but with the sun felt much warmer. I wore capris, and sandals, and was very warm wearing shorts and a T shirt on my run. Not only was the weather nice but I went to Whole Foods in Oakville for the first time. I have heard all about it through reading lots of American blogs and just couldn't wait to go myself. I figured today would be a perfect day! (disregarding the volume of shoppers out on this Holiday weekend Saturday)

The produce section was smaller than I expected but the rest of the store sure made up for it. The meat/seafood section was VERY impressive. There was lots of organic and "properly raised" meat, along with a big selection of grass fed beef, which is where my Dad picked it up for my 23rd Birthday dinner. The seafood is all labeled with where it is from and they had a lot of sustainably wild caught and properly farmed fish. There was also an impressive amount of prepared foods. I was very glad I ate lunch before I went because I would not have been able to resist the salad and hot food bar.

Any lingering hunger I had was supressed by the samples throughout the store. I tried a strawberry jalapeno jam on brie cheese. It was amazing and definitely worth the 8 dollars a jar for a special occasion. There was a ton of in-house made foods. Fresh pasta, sauces, salads, soups, sandwiches, pizza, meats, anything you could ever want! Was it pricey? Yes. But you know what, if I could afford it, didn't have the time to prepare something, and wanted to ensure I was eating something made from real food with natural ingredients, I would definitely head to Whole Foods (if there was one in my city, anyway).

Although I took the trip mostly just to take a look, see what all the hype was about, and check out some prices of some of my favourite products, I knew I would buy myself something. First I picked up some Green Mountain Gringo Hot Salsa which was on sale for $2, regular $6! To go along with that I chose one of my favourite brands of tortilla chips Guiltless Gourmet. I chose the spinach artichoke parmesan flavour. This brand is awesome because the seasonings are made with natural ingredients, a rare find in "healthy" chips. Finally, I picked up a berry scone. As soon as I saw it I knew that is what I wanted to have for breakfast on Easter Sunday when Lent is finally over. The cherry on top of the whole trip was that at the checkout, I got the chips for free because they didn't scan, and got 10 cents off for bringing my own bag, all while we listened to the live Jazz band playing by the checkouts.

I could get used to that place.

I'll send you off with a recipe I put together one night when I got home late and was starving. It was quick, easy, and very filling.

Stir-Fried Rice

1/2 tbsp olive oil
dried chili pepper (whatever you can handle)
~2 cups of frozen veggies (I used a blend of broccoli, pepper, carrot, beans, and water chestnuts)
1 garlic clove
1 tsp minced ginger
1 cup cooked brown rice
1 egg
1 egg white
dash of milk
soy sauce to taste

1. Heat oil with chili pepper on medium heat.
2. Add half defrosted veggies and garlic, and saute until no longer frozen.
3. Add ginger and rice and stir to combine. Heat for 3 minutes or so.
4. Meanwhile, beat egg, egg white and milk together. In a pan on medium-low heat, cook egg until about 1/2 done. Add to rice mixture and stir to combine, stirring until egg is cooked and veggies/rice are hot.
5. Serve topped with a bit of soy sauce.

This was my first time making a fried rice with egg and it turned out pretty good. I have made this twice since, and will probably make it many more times.

Have a fantastic Easter weekend!

Mexican Fiesta!

Here I go again with the Mexican food. It wasn't my idea this time I swear! Will said he was bringing avocados to make guacamole and tortillas to make homemade chips. You cannot avoid wanting some beans and rice to with.

We decided to make a Bean and Corn Chili Salad as well as Mexican Rice. I used these recipes as a guide to get the desired Mexican flavours. Will had seen a recipe for the Avocado Salsa Verde and the homemade tortilla chips and started off with that. I am working from memory here and these dishes were made almost a week ago. I hope I get the avocado salsa verde recipe right, although, you can't really mess up guac.


Avocado Salsa Verde

3 avocados
1 small bunch of green onions
2-3 jalapeno peppers
1-2 limes, juice only

Add everything to the food processor and blend until creamy smooth. To make sure leftovers to do not brown, sprinkle some lemon juice on top.


Whole-Wheat Tortilla Chips

tortillas
olive oil
salt and pepper

Cut the tortillas into triangles like a pizza. Brush with olive oil and add salt and pepper to taste. Bake in a 400 degree F oven until crispy and lightly browned.

These were absolutely delicious! While not the healthiest dipper, they are quite a treat and are much better than store bought corn chips. I could see adding different seasonings such as cumin and cayenne to these to get great flavoured chips!

After we devoured the appetizer, it was time to make our main dishes.

Mexican Rice, adapted from allrecipes.com

3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2/3 cup diced onion
1 1/2 cups uncooked brown rice
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 jar of stewed tomatoes
1 can of tomato paste
salt to taste
1 clove garlic, minced
3 cups water

Heat the oil in a large saucepan on medium-high heat. Saute the onions until they are soft. Add the rice and stir to coat in oil. Add the rest of the ingredients in order. Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer, cover, and cook for 45 minutes, or until the rice is tender, stirring occasionally.

While this was pretty good, I think it could use some improvements. The end result was rather saucy, and I think next time I would leave out the tomato paste and maybe use less stewed tomatoes. I would also add more cumin and chili powder. Other than that, I love using different liquids to cook rice (such as tomato) and will definitely make this again (with modifications of course).

While the rice was cooking we made the bean salad which is SO easy to put together.

Bean and Corn Chili Salad, adapted from allrecipes.com

3 tomatoes, diced
1 can black beans
1 can white kidney beans
1 can low-sodium corn
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
cilantro (optional)

1/4 cup fresh lime juice
3 tbsp olive oil
2 1/2 tsp chili powder
2 1/2 tsp cumin
salt and pepper to taste

Rinse canned beans thoroughly, and mix with corn and onion. Into a seperate bowl, wisk together lime juice, oil, chili powder, cumin and salt and pepper. Add to bean mixture and toss to coat. Garnish with cilantro or mix in if you like.

Since cilantro and I are not friends, I photographed Will's plate for the full experience (cilantro and all). I really enjoyed this salad and wouldn't change a thing. It was even better the next day! You can really use any beans you like but I would always keep some black beans in there.

The highlight of this meal was definitely the salsa verde. My Mom loved it, and it is now the recipe of choice in this house. I have been able to do a lot of cooking and baking this weekend. Tomorrow I'll post about a meal I made with my friend Jenna that contains some some of the cutest produce at the Hamilton Farmer's market, as well as three recipes we have been dying to try!