Polenta with Rapini, Portobello Mushrooms and Avocado

I have been eating a lot of simple meals lately. As spring approaches I am trending toward fresh vegetables and lots of greens. While this recipe still has comfort food written all over it, usually saved for the winter months, it comes in handy for rainy days like this week is bringing. I have had a large bag of course cornmeal for a while and have been meaning to make some polenta. This post on Seasonal Ontario Food inspired this oven baked variety. It is a very hands off way of making polenta which I am sure will become my standard method for making polenta now. I find that polenta goes really well with salty and garlicy foods. It also goes well with hardy greens. This hardly classifies as a recipe, but is a great starting point for using polenta if you haven't made it before. Try it and then make it yours!

Polenta with Rapini, Portobello Mushrooms, and Avocado

Serves 3

1 cup course cornmeal
4 cups water
1/2 large bunch of rapini, chopped (or other hearty greens like kale)
3 portobello mushrooms, chopped
6 cloves of garlic, minced
1 avocado, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Mix water and cornmeal in baking dish and bake for 1 hour.
3. Give the polenta a stir to ensure doneness, and bake for another 10 minutes if needed.
4. While finishing the polenta off, add mushrooms to a pan and heat over medium heat.
5. Once mushrooms begin to soften and release water, add greens and garlic. Sauté until greens are wilted and mushrooms are cooked.
6. Top polenta with greens and some chopped avocado.
7. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.

Why I Don't Eat Meat

Something I tend not to talk about too much on this blog is vegetarianism. Back in May 2011, I mentioned that I was no longer going to be eating meat "for the time being". During my trip to Italy in August 2011, I had meat/seafood, but other than that animal flesh has not knowingly crossed my lips. Animal flesh. It sounds weird to write it like that, but that is what it is. Some people cannot stand the thought that the protein on their plate used to be a living and breathing animal. This is how disconnected we have become from our food.


I haven't written about my reasons for becoming vegetarian on this blog as I am always afraid of offending people. But I have decided to share my reasons today, as I am not afraid anymore. Every month of my vegetarian 'journey' has come with some more insight and development of my opinion on the issue. Some of this results from reading the news, watching a TED talk, reading a new book, or simply thinking things through. One book I recently read, Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer really got to me. Most of the facts and figures in the book were not new to me, but the way the book was written instilled me with a little bit of empowerment. It made me want to spread the word, share the facts with those around me, start a revolution, and start a protest. Now, the urge to protest and start a revolution died off quickly, but the urge to spread the word has not. I used to be afraid of offending people around me by sharing my opinions, but I realized I cannot go on this way. So here it is...my journey through a changing relationship with eating animals.


My estrangement with meat began about 6 years ago when I moved out of residence and started cooking on my own. Looking back I would hardly consider it cooking but I did make my own meals. I loved salads and simple meals. Meat was rarely in the picture. It was expensive and took some serious skills to cook. Skills I didn't have at the time. I also never felt very comfortable handling raw meat. My chicken was usually grilled to oblivion and then tossed in a salad to get the job done. A couple years later this aversion got worse. I became aware of the bacteria present on meat and issues of food safety after one of my coop work terms. Handling meat became a bigger aversion to me. I would only eat meat after thorough inspection for doneness and I would never order meat at a restaurant. After all, "I don't know what goes on back there". As I got older and started getting more into cooking, I tried to overcome this 'fear' of raw meat. I did this by purchasing a whole chicken. I wanted to deconstruct and use every piece of that damn bird. I did use every piece of that bird, including the bones to make a homemade chicken stock, and then I disinfected every surface that chicken may have touched. I still had a problem.


That same year I started watching movies about food. Food Inc. in particular struck a cord with me, exposing the harsh realities of the factory farm industry. I had never seen these images before. The use of antibiotics and steroids, the close quarters of the animals, the rate of disease in the animals slaughtered for food, and the struggles of the family farm because of the influence of the food industry in policy making. While this affected me greatly, I still wasn't ready to make the jump to vegetarianism. I rarely ate meat, but I didn't want to give a title to my diet, experience the social awkwardness, or the separation. Although, rarely ordering meat at a restaurant already caused some social awkwardness with my group of carnivorous male friends. The next year I started reading books. The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defence of Food, Locavore, Food and Fuel, and Food Inc. All of these movies and books opened my eyes to what the state of the food industry was. I didn't like it, not one bit.


After watching the movie Fresh I finally decided to become a 'vegetarian'. It was a big step for me to make that classification. A classification I never wanted to make. "One day I would eat meat, but not right now, not with the way it is done," I said to myself. But I kept this to myself for the most part. Very few people asked questions, or noticed for that matter. And that was the way I liked it. I took comfort in the fact that I was making a difference. I was one more person not consuming factory farmed meat, one less person handing over money to that industry, reducing the demand for meat just that little bit.


Now, I am not an animal rights activist. I don't think it is wrong to kill an animal for food, but the way we are doing it is wrong. Not just the killing, but the raising, the feeding, and the breeding is wrong. It is morally wrong, wrong for our health, and wrong for our environment. Here are some simple facts to show my point:


1. Agriculture accounted for 24% of the methane emissions in 2009, a 20% increase from 1990, mostly due to beef cattle and swine. (National Inventory Report 1990-2009: Greenhouse Gas Sources and Sinks in Canada - Executive Summary)
2. The inappropriate use of antibiotics in agriculture is a driving factor in the presence of antimicrobial resistant bacteria in humans. (WHO) This has some big and scary consequences for our future.
3. Animal husbandry uses up 30% of the land on earth, including the land required to produce their feed. 40% of the world grain is used to feed animals which are not even supposed to eat grain. Imagine we used that land to feed people? (Archive of Internal Medicine)
4. Animals are kept in such close indoor quarters they can hardly move. Chickens are given less than 1 square foot of space (if they aren't in a cage). Not that they can stand anyway. The average broiler reaches maturity at 6 weeks with a body weight their frail sick bones can't keep up.
5. Industrial agriculture contributes to almost 50% of the waterway pollution in the United States (Sustainable Table).


Agriculture is literally destroying our world. 


Forgive my inner hippie for saying this but eating is one of the most intimate interactions we have with the world. We take the food produced by the earth and we put it inside our mouths. It moves through our body as it gets broken down, fermented, transformed and absorbed, literally contributing to the building blocks of our body, or taking part in metabolic activity. If there is one thing we should care about in this world (beyond those that we love) it should be what we eat. 

Happy chickens whose eggs tasted amazing, like no egg I've ever tasted before.

For me, that means not eating meat and very little animal products. This will inevitably shift again one day, maybe even introducing meat back into my life when I have the means to buy healthy meat directly from a farmer for special occasions(I'll have to stop being a student first). But only time will tell. 


One thing is for sure, saving our planet will require a large shift in the way our current food system works. There are so many people out there making changes and fighting for sustainability and a brighter future. It is really inspiring and I hope to one day be able to make a difference. For now I will continue to eat vegetarian and I will publish this post. If this post inspires just one person to eliminate meat from just one of their meals it will have been worth it.


Thanks for reading! For being so patient, I promise to post a yummy vegetarian recipe this week. :)

Black Bean and Tomatillo Twice Baked Potato

As I went to write this post I realized it has been about a month since my last. At first it worried me when I started posting less frequently in 2012 but I have gotten over with. I use this blog to share my recipes (and recipe finds) with my friends and family and only posting when I am really feeling a recipe keeps this place real. Speaking of keeping it real, I have been working on a post for the past little while that I have yet to publish. There is no recipe, there are no pictures of food but I feel like it belongs here. When I feel it is ready I will share it and I hope you accept my recipe-less words when the time comes. Now, onto the recipe that broke the Food for Fuel silence!

It was the result of picking up some potatoes at the farmer's market, not really having a plan for them. I have made these potatoes twice for a difference audience and all have approved. This recipe is easy, ready under an hour, and packed with flavour (and fibre).

Black Bean and Tomatillo Twice Baked Potato
Serves 4-6

6 potatoes (I used red skinned ones but you could use your fav)
1 can black beans, thoroughly rinsed
1 avocado, chopped
~1/3 cup salsa verde (to taste, I don't know how much I added)

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees C.
2. Poke potatoes with a fork and wrap in foil, bake for ~45 minutes (depending on the size of your taters).
3. Once the potatoes are cooked and cooled enough to handle, carefully peel off the skin on the top to discard. Scoop out the insides of the potatoes and add to a bowl with black beans, and avocado.
4. Mash the potato with the beans and avocado until mixed. Add the salsa verde and mix into the mash, tasting along the way to ensure the desired amount of flavour.
5. Scoop stuffing into the potatoes pressing down to pack down the filling. Fill the potatoes well exceeding their limit. You will still have filling left over.
6. Bake potatoes for 10-15 minutes until tops begin to brown.

Don't mind the blur...

The salsa is the star of the show here. The potatoes will only taste as good as your salsa. Use a good quality flavourful salsa, or make your own! I used the President's Choice Black Tomatillo Salsa. It is very good. I would also recommend the original variety. The avocado is also necessary, it adds creaminess that would normally be accomplished by dairy (cream or sour cream). Feel free to add other veggies as well. I tried adding a bit of corn which worked well. I also foresee bell peppers or green onions working well.

As the weather warms up and BBQ season begins, I really hope you give these a try!

Tahini Chickpea Stir Fry

I know I haven't posted a new recipe in a while, but I finally have something worth posting about. I did something the other day that I used to do almost every time I cooked. I just 'went with it.' I have been following a lot of recipes lately and not really just going with my instincts and cooking with what I happen to have on hand. I want to get back into doing this and while I had one failure initially, I hit a winner with this chickpea dish. I worked with the winning combination of chickpeas, tahini and lemon in my favourite dip, hummus and these ingredients delivered.

You may also notice the use of coconut oil instead of the usual olive oil. I have been doing this as of late for two reasons. I won't go into too much detail because I am thinking of writing a post all about it, but the reasons are 1) I don't trust the quality of EVOO and 2) high heat isn't really that good for EVOO and coconut is such a stable oil, which does not make the dish taste at all coconuty. Win-win situation.

Tahini and Chickpea Stir Fry
Serves 2-3

1 tsp coconut oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
4 mushrooms, chopped
1/2 large head of kale, chopped
~1 cup cooked chickpeas
1.5 tbsp tahini
1.5 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tbsp nutritional yeast
avocado

1. Heat coconut oil in a pan on medium heat. Add onion and cook for 5 minutes until soft.
2. Add bell pepper and mushrooms and sauté for about 5 minutes.
3. Add kale and chickpeas and heat until kale is beginning to wilt and vegetables are cooked.
4. In the meantime whisk together tahini, lemon juice and nutritional yeast. The nutritional yeast thickens up the sauce so do not add if you like the thinner consistency. The sauce also thickens in the pan.
5. Add the sauce to the pan and stir to completely mix and heat through.
6. Serve topped with chopped avocado.

I knew I liked this dish upon initial taste, but I knew it was blog worthy when my Mom enjoyed it. She liked the lemon and tahini combination with alongside the chickpeas tastes a little hummus like. You can always adjust the tahini and lemon ratio to suit your taste, and of course change up the veggies. But whatever you do, don't leave out the chickpeas.

Lentils, Lentils, and more Lentils: Enjedra

I love lentils, and cannot seem to get enough of them these days. I have been making a lot of this Butternut Squash and Lentil Curry Stew, which I have posted about before. I am surprised I have not made Palak Daal, my all time favourite lentil dish. The spinach filled lentil dish that made me fall in love with 101 Cookbooks. I hate to admit it, but as of late, there has been some competition for my favourite lentil dish. I spotted this recipe quite a while ago and it kind of got lost in the shuffle. I came across it again a couple weeks ago and could not wait to make it. It is so simple and easy, yet so impressive. I was impressed anyway.

Enjedra slightly adapted from Pride and Vegudice
Serves 6-8


4 medium-large sweet onions
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoons salt
2 cup green lentils
3 cups water (add more as needed)
brown rice to serve with


1. Cook desired amount of rice from package instructions. I used long grain brown but I imagine basmati would also work well.
2. Chop onions as desired. I cut the onions into rounds and then into 4-6 pieces from there. If you prefer them fully chopped, that would work to.
3. Heat olive oil on medium heat in a saucepan. Add onions and spices and cook for 10 to 15 minutes until they are fully softened and beginning to caramelize.
4. Add lentils to the pan and stir to coat evenly.
5. Add water and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer while stirring occasionally. More water may have to be added as the lentils absorb the water and some evaporates off. Add 1/2 cup at a time as needed. Cook until lentils are soft and beginning to fall apart.
6. Serve over rice or with steamed greens.

If you make one recipe and one recipe only in 2012, let it be this one. I actually cannot wait to make it again. It is so comforting with the softness of the lentils and the warming seasonings. It would freeze well, making it an even more economical meal. 

Remember when I said I was brainstorming a variation of the Vegan Shepard's Pie (as well as a new name)? Well, I brought my ideas to life but it was not a huge success. I basically changed up the seasonings of the bottom veggie layer, and used mashed sweet potatoes on the top. While the flavour was good, the sweet potatoes were too runny for their use in such a dish. I will most likely try again but not right away. I am not incredibly inspired at the moment to try again. Vegan Shepard's Pie it remains.

Gluten Free Crackers and Vegan Shepard's Pie

I am on a Oh She Glows kick lately, in attempt to knock off some of those 800 recipes. It started off with making her Vegan and Gluten Free Crackers, and I just couldn't get enough. I had been wanting to make crackers for a while and finally got around to making them. I have made them four times now, making it a weekly tradition. 

The recipe is a great base for making crackers, allowing your imagination to run wild when it comes to seasoning. The original recipe calls for garlic powder, rosemary and thyme, which is a winning combination. I have also left out the seasonings to get a taste for what the basic cracker recipe is like. It is rather plain, and definitely needs some hummus or peanut butter to make up for the lack of seasoning. That is actually a good thing though because I now know how versatile this recipe could become. I can imagine making them cinnamon spiced, curry flavoured, or on the Italian side with basil and oregano.

There is another area where your creativity can come through. The shape of the crackers is totally up to you! I initially followed the recipe by cutting the rolled out dough with a pizza cutter. I found that I wasted a lot of cracker on the ends though since I wasn't rolling the dough perfectly. Now, I use small cookie cutters, which worked much better than I thought it would.

Simply roll the dough out thin onto a counter lined with waxed or parchment paper. Press the cookie cutter down onto the dough firmly. Lift up (with the dough in the cutter) and place the shape on the baking sheet lined with parchment paper. For very small cutters, the cooking time should be reduced by 3-5 minutes. I have been experimenting with some seasoning combinations and hopefully will be able to share my favourite with you soon. I got close tonight, but so far the original recipe has been taking the cake.

Another Oh She Glows recipe I have tried lately is the Vegan Shepard's Pie. The only thing I didn't love about this recipe was the name. The dish itself is fantastic. It is a great Sunday type of meal since it requires a little more time than a week night probably provides, and is a perfect comfort food for the winter months. Filled with root vegetables, I cannot think of something more appropriate of this time of year.

You may also notice there is no 'fake meat' in this pie to it vegan. Which is why I don't like the name. It deserves a name of its own. I have made this twice now (without the 'gravy') and I am cooking up a unique variation in my head. Hopefully I have a chance to put my ideas into action soon, as well as provide a name for this deserving dish.

Corn, Edamame, and Avocado Salad

How is everyone's new year's resolutions going? I was never really a new year's resolution type of person but this year I did make a few. I won't share them all with you today but I can tell you that it does involve kicking the sugar addiction I built up over the Holidays. Piece of cake.... (irony?)

Over the Christmas break I did a lot of 'spring cleaning' and organizing, which included my recipes. I finally think I have found a good system to organize recipes that I want to make in the future, or that I have made in the past. I mostly use evernote for this, and then excel for recipes that I find in magazines.  By the way, if you are not using evernote, you are doing yourself a big disservice. It is one of the greatest apps ever created. Bold statement. Anyway, when I entered the 800th recipe into evernote I realized I had a bit of a problem, and was biting off more than I could chew, or collecting more recipes that I could possibly make in the near future. So, I decided to make a bunch of new recipes in the new year and start knocking some off the list.

I don't usually follow recipes to the tee all that much, more so use them for inspiration. I have been lacking in inspiration of my own and I think trying some new recipes would be the perfect medicine. One of the first that I made was from a summer issue of Inspired, a magazine created by Sobeys. It was for an avocado and corn salad. The ingredients aren't exactly in season, but was a refreshing change for this time of year. I made a few changes from the original recipe which suited my taste. Here is what resulted:

Corn, Edamame, and Avocado Salad adapted from Inspired
Serves 6-8

4.5 cups frozen corn
2 cups edamame beans
1 cup diced red onion
1/2 cup salsa verde
4 limes
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1.5 avocado, diced

1. Toss corn, beans, avocado and onion.
2. Whisk together salsa verde, juice of the limes, salt, and red pepper flakes.
3. Pour over corn mixture and toss to coat.

I have been making this salad for the past couple weeks for lunches. Since I don't want the avocado to brown over the 3 days the salad is in the fridge, I add in the diced avocado in the morning when making my lunch. This salad has quite a bite to it and the aroma is sure to wake you up with all that citrus. A great way to start the new year off right...and keeping it that way.