Instant Pot pressure cookers on deep sale today

I've written twice before about the Instant Pot, an electronic pressure cooker that helps make healthy food in a time-efficient manner (1, 2).  At some point, I'll write another review of my Instant Pot, but the gist is that it still works flawlessly and looks sharp after more than four years of frequent use.  Here are a few of the reasons why I like it so much:

• It increases my efficiency in the kitchen, especially with beans, beets, artichokes, and bone broth.  It's automatic, so you can do something else while it works.
• It's durable.  The inner pot is stainless steel without a nonstick liner, and the gaskets are silicone.  The whole thing has a solid, quality feel.
• It replaces multiple bulky kitchen items.  It isn't just a pressure cooker, but also a steamer, slow cooker, and rice maker.  The latest version is also a yogurt maker.

Today only, Amazon is offering the Instant Pot on deep discount.  If you're considering getting one, today is the day.  The older version (LUX50) is only $49, and the newer version (DUO60) is only $69.  That's an incredible value for what this thing does.  

If you purchase through the following links, you'll be benefiting my work at no additional cost to yourself:

Instant Pot LUX50

Instant Pot DUO60

Upcoming December Workshops from Burnaby Food First

This is your brain on pumpkin pie

Image credit: Evan Amos

Thanksgiving is a special time in the United States when we gather our loved ones and celebrate the abundance of fall with a rich palette of traditional foods. Yet a new study suggests that the 6-week holiday period that spans Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year�s Eve accounts for most of our country�s weight problem (1). Understanding this fact, and why it happens, gives us powerful insights into why we gain weight, and what to do about it.

Elina Helander, a postdoctoral researcher at Tampere University of Technology in Finland, and her colleagues set out to answer a simple question: how does a person�s body weight change over the course of the year? To find out, they used internet-connected scales to collect daily body weight data from nearly 3,000 volunteers in the United States, Germany, and Japan. After crunching the data, a striking pattern emerged: no matter what you celebrate, at any time of year, the holidays are likely to be your period of greatest weight gain.

Read more �

Sp�tzle and Halal Veal Schnitzel with Jaeger Sauce on CBC's Weekend Morning Show!

This morning I will be presenting these comfort foods on CBC's Weekend Morning Show with host Terry MacLeod.  These dishes are so easy to prepare.  I used Halal Veal from Millad's Supermarket on Notre Dame in Winnipeg.  The calf is raised free and naturally and without cruelty.  

The Sp�tzle is available from Nature's Farm at today's St. Norbert's Farmer's Market at the Eagle's Club from 10 - 1.  Preparing it couldn't be easier.  I simply saut�ed it in brown butter with nutmeg.

Enjoy!

Jaeger Schnitzel with Sp�tzle

Veal cutlet, pounded thin and floured both sides (Local Halal Veal is available at Millad�s Supermarket on Notre Dame) Optional method:  Slice veal into strips, toss with a bit of seasoned flour, and then brown, remove from pan instead of larger pieces of meat.

1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced (or more if desired)

1 tsp. garlic and fresh parsley, chopped

2 tbsp. onion (or shallots), finely chopped

1 finely diced carrot

� cup white wine (some people use apple juice)

� cup cream

� cup +/- veal or beef stock (optional if prefer more cream)

Salt and Pepper, to taste

Optional:  smoked hot or sweet paprika

Cooking Directions

Pan with oil/ butter, mix hot, saut� veal cutlet on both sides until lightly browned. Take cutlet out of pan, keep to side. Add mushrooms, garlic, onions and parsley, and saut� until partially cooked. Add wine, de-glaze pan, then and cream. Put cutlet back in pan and let simmer in sauce for one minute to two minutes.

Serve with Sp�tzle from Nature�s Farm that has been saut�ed in brown butter with nutmeg, as follows:

1 pkg Sp�tzle from Nature�s Farm (available at St. Norbert�s Farmer�s Market on Saturday at the Eagle�s Club)

1/3 -1/2 cup Notre Dame Butter

Healthy grating of nutmeg or good pinch ground nutmeg

Salt and pepper, to taste

FREE Event for Hungry Minds: Just Eat It!

Want to tickle your taste buds & chat with a film star?

Save the date: Tuesday, November 29, 6:00pm - 8:30pm

Join us at: Burnaby Central Secondary (Map)

Space is limited: REGISTER HERE

 

Join Burnaby Food First & ACE-IT Culinary Arts Program at Burnaby Central on November 29th. Meet fellow food enthusiasts, learn about food waste and how to reduce it.

Schedule: 

6:00pm - Enjoy delicious appetizers prepared by

                ACE-IT Culinary Arts students

6:30pm - Watch award-winning documentary

                "Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story"

7:45pm - Discussion with producer & co-star

               Jen Rustemeyer



Teachers & Student Mentors:

Want to have a food waste discussion in the classroom, but don't know where to start? Click here for some Just Eat It resources, including books, articles, blogs & policy documents from Canada and the United States.



Can't Wait for November 29th?

Check out Jen's presentation at Burnaby Food First's Food Matters Forum last June:

             This event is made possible thanks to 

               the generous support of our donors

Holiday Pairing Party with DRY Sparkling!

To celebrate the upcoming holiday season, we�re having a virtual Holiday Pairing Party! I gathered up a handful of other bloggers to virtually sip sparkly seasonal drinks and nibble on tasty holiday food pairings with DRY Sparkling�s new limited edition Ginger and Cranberry sodas (in big champagne-sized bottles!)! See below for the full recipe round-up, including my chocolate satsuma truffles and mini blue cheese bacon cheesecakes!



So... let's talk about holiday traditions. Trying to carry on with our holiday traditions after my dad passed away was rough. The first Thanksgiving and Christmas without him were brutal. We tried to do the same things, in the same places, but carrying on with those traditions without him there made the hole feel even bigger. So we�ve been switching it up! Breathing new light and life into our holidays has allowed me to enjoy and embrace happy memories of him, rather than just feeling his absence. This year, we�ll be doing Thanksgiving and Christmas at my sister and her husband�s house, for the first time ever! And on Black Friday, we�ll be going to a musical! I�m super excited, not necessarily to start new traditions, but to buck tradition all together. To do something totally fresh and new.


If you�re also wanting to try something new this holiday season, may I suggest adding a few pretty, holiday-inspired bottles of DRY Sparkling to your table, next to the wine and sparkling cider (and mixed with the gin and bourbon)? DRY Sparkling (a woman-owned biz in Seattle, holla!) creates culinary-inspired sodas made with natural ingredients and just a touch of cane sugar. DRY is great on its own, paired with food or mixed into cocktails. I�ve created two holiday-party recipes that pair with DRY�s slightly floral Cranberry and lightly spiced Ginger.

First up: blue cheese bacon cheesecakes! These are inspired by a bite I had at Cochon555. Sweet graham crust, salty bacon throughout, and savory, creamy blue cheese. It�s like the perfect cheese-board in one bite! I�m pairing these little cheesecakes with Cranberry Dry, which is tart and slightly floral. And then for dessert, I threw all caution to the wind, ignored (almost) everything I read about ginger flavor pairings, and made smooth creamy dark chocolate truffles. I just loved the idea of dark chocolate and spicy ginger together. But, I didn�t want to totally pass on the flavor pairing ideas DRY sent me, so I added tangy Satsuma juice and zest. It�s like those chocolate oranges, but bite-sized! I recommend taking a bite of rich chocolate truffle, a bite of a fresh juicy Satsuma segment, and then a sip of Ginger DRY!

Before we get to my recipes, here are the rest of the Holiday Pairing Party sips and bites! Cheers!

Sips:

Feast + West: Sparkling Cranberry Vanilla Old-Fashioned
The Speckled Palate: Ginger Pomegranate Mule
Cake 'n Knife: Cranberry Ginger Bourbon Fizz
Dunk & Crumble: Gin & Ginger Fizzy Lifter

A Little Saffron: Ginger Bourbon Cooler
Chicano Eats: Grapefruit Mezcal Mule

Bites:

Nommable: Rosemary Parmesan Scones
Wit & Vinegar: Crispy Pork Sesame Slaw Sliders

DailyWaffle: Apple and Caramelized Onion Tartlets

Weeknight Society: Pumpkin Pasta with Toasted Pecans
Appeasing a Food Geek: Sparkling Cranberry Orange Cream Puffs

A Joyfully Mad Kitchen: Pear and Pecan Arugula Salad with Sparkling Cranberry Vinaigrette

Loves Food, Loves to Eat: Chocolate Satsuma Truffles & Blue Cheese Bacon Cheesecakes (below!)

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Giveaway has ended. 
DRY Sparkling Prize Pack Giveaway! You can celebrate with the new holiday flavors, too! Enter to win everything you need to fully enjoy DRY over the holidays, pictured below. To enter, leave a comment below (be sure to provide email address) OR head over to my Instagram, and leave a comment on the photo for this post, telling me about your favorite holiday traditions or fresh new ideas you have for the holidays! 

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And finally, here are my #HolidayPairingParty recipes! Enjoy! 

Mini Blue Cheese Bacon Cheesecakes

Makes 15 mini cheesecakes

Adapted from this recipe

Crust: � cup graham cracker crumbs  1 teaspoon sugar 2 tablespoons softened butter 1 slice bacon, cooked and finely diced Filling: 5 oz cream cheese, softened � cup crumbled blue cheese 2 slices bacon, cooked and finely diced � teaspoon honey  Fresh thyme (about 1-2 sprigs worth) � cup chopped pecans, optional Sliced fresh cranberries

Line a mini muffin pan with paper liners.  To make crust, mix together crumbs, sugar, butter, and bacon (I threw it all in the food processor) until thoroughly combined. Scoop about 1 packed teaspoon of crumbs into each muffin cup, and then press/pack it down firmly (I used the back of a tablespoon to pack it down). Refrigerate for at least an hour, or freeze for 20 minutes. To make filling, mix together cream cheese, blue cheese, remaining bacon, honey, thyme, and pecans (if using). Scoop a tablespoon of the filling into each chilled cup. Gently press filling (I used the back of the tablespoon again, wiping it down and wetting it lightly between each cheesecake), and then use an offset icing spatula or butter knife to smooth the top. Refrigerate until ready to serve, then top with sliced cranberries, and serve with DRY Sparkling Cranberry soda!

Dark Chocolate Satsuma Truffles

Makes 10-15 truffles (depending on size)

Adapted from this recipe

These can be made a day or two in advance. To store, refrigerate on parchment paper in a sealed container, and let come to room temperature before serving. 

� cup heavy cream Zest of 1 large Satsuma (mandarin orange) 8 oz Bittersweet chocolate (at least 60%),  chopped very fine (even grated or food  processed would be best) � teaspoon vanilla  1.5 teaspoons Satsuma juice � cup cocoa powder  Candied ginger  Fresh Satsuma segments, for serving

In a saucepan, heat heavy cream and zest over low heat (medium low/low), until it just starts to simmer. Put chocolate in a heatproof bowl, and pour cream over it (straining if you don�t want the zest in the truffles). Cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 5-10 minutes, until chocolate is melted. Add vanilla and orange juice and, and stir to combine. Let sit to cool (to room temperature). With an electric mixer or stand mixer, beat until chocolate is lighter in color, about 4 minutes. If it�s still too runny/soft to roll into balls, spread in an 8x8 dish and refrigerate until cool enough to scoop but not totally solid (about an hour).  Add cocoa powder to a small bowl. Use a melon baller, small ice cream scoop, or cookie dough scoop to scoop chocolate into balls. Shape with hands if needed, and roll in cocoa powder to coat. Top with a shaving of candied ginger, and serve with Satsuma segments and DRY Sparkling Ginger soda!

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Note: I received free product from DRY Sparkling as part of this post and giveaway.  All opinions and recipes are my own. Visit DRY Sparkling to learn more about where to find the limited edition holiday flavors, as well as their other fun flavors like Fuji Apple and Juniper Berry! 

Slow Cooker Vegetable Curry

I occasionally take barre classes, and there is one particular instructor that ends each class by saying, "make healthy food choices, don't ruin all of this hard work!"  Every time she says it my face turns red because I'm afraid it's obvious how much I've been thinking about food the entire time I was tucking and burning.  And not exactly "healthy" food.  I can't help it!  I was born this way!  I've said it before but it's like an obese German man from olden times sits in my brain and directs my thoughts towards brownies and burritos and bacon.  Thankfully, I'm able to control this man (most of the time), but it doesn't quiet exactly him.  We should probably name him, don't you think?  Gus?

So the other day, I wanted to make something in the crock pot with brisket or short ribs and wine and super rich flavors but then I heard my instructor's voice in my head.  It's like she's on one shoulder and Gus in on the other.  (I really hope she doesn't read this.)  Instead I made this Slow Cooker Vegetable Curry that was delicious and still tasted like comfort food!  And don't worry, Gus, I WILL be making something with short ribs later in the week...     

Recipe here!

Your Voice is Valid

Later this week, I�ll be back to regularly scheduled food posts. But I can�t just jump back into recipes without acknowledging that my heart is breaking for this country, for our planet�s environment, for my targeted friends and neighbors who are currently living in fear, and for everyone else who feels gutted by what�s to come in the next four years and by the precedent that has been set.


This blog started as a creative outlet. Overtime, I�ve gotten a tiny bit more personal, and I�ve shared quite a bit about my grief over losing my dad. And right now I�m grieving, and don�t intend to pretend I�m not. I don�t get a ton of views and I don�t receive one cent of revenue for writing here, so while I appreciate and occasionally cater to this site's followers, this space is mine to do with as I please. If you stick with me, when now and then I might talk about feelings more than food, then thank you. But if you don�t, that�s ok too. Some things matter, and some don�t. We all have one life to live in this world. 

In September Evan and I vacationed in Italy. We went to Rome and Puglia�the heel of the boot. I plan to share more about that here eventually, but just haven�t gotten around to it yet. It was a beautiful, fun, amazing trip. We did, however, have one bad (potentially near-death) experience, on our last full day in Italy, in Polignano a Mare (a beautiful town on the Adriatic Sea, pictured above!).

We had booked a boat tour of the cliff-side grottos, and when the time came, it was windy and wavy, but we went anyway, just the two of us and the captain in a small motor boat. The tour was cut short, because of the wind and waves, a quick out and back, cruising parallel along the coast-line. On the way back, I noticed suddenly that we had started veering toward the rocky cliff wall. I looked behind me at the driver, and to my alarm, saw that he had his head down, and was texting. I looked at Evan, who was facing out to sea, taking photos. He didn�t see what was happening. This all went down in less than a minute, probably all in a matter of seconds, but in my head it lasted forever. As I looked back and forth between the driver and the cliff, I knew it was bad. I knew we were headed straight toward a rock wall. I knew the driver wasn�t looking. But I didn�t say anything, I sat in alarm, watching it all happen. Part of this, I�m sure, was a natural fight/flight/freeze reaction (obviously the freeze part), but there was something else too. 

A few feet from hitting the wall, the driver looked up and screamed, throwing the boat in reverse, throwing us out of our seats onto the floor, narrowly missing the cliff wall, crossing himself and praying. Luckily, we didn�t crash into the wall, we were, all-in-all, fine. In that brief moment though, while I watched us nearly drive straight into a cliff, and felt the alarm of what was happening, my brain said �Surly this isn�t happening. He knows what he�s doing. He�s a professional.� I didn�t want to, excuse the pun, rock the boat. My fear of hitting the wall and my fear of speaking up were competing. I didn�t trust my gut. 

This event shook me pretty badly. Not just because we almost wrecked, but because I didn�t trust myself. I was afraid of speaking up and embarrassing myself. I think this is a fairly common and unique experience for women. I know that a few female friends I shared this story with identified with those feelings. Society tells us to be quiet. To second guess ourselves. To trust the men in the room. Fuck that.

I don�t want to be that person in the boat anymore. 

Don�t freeze. Don�t stay quiet. Don�t be demure.

Your feelings are valid. Your fears are valid. Your voice is valid. 

Roasted Cauliflower with Brown Butter

For 3 days now I've tried to write this post, and every morning I am interrupted by these tiny humans who call me Mom.  They need so much - I find it extremely rude.  They're like, mom can I have my vitamins and some breakfast and some milk - NO not in that cup - and WAIT I can't find my vitamin can I have another and I have poop in my diaper and I'm going to touch it and I'm coooold and need a blanket and so on and so forth.  Rude, right?  I'M TRYING TO WRITE A BLOG POST HERE.

  So today I woke up early to tell you about this roasted cauliflower that is finished with a nutty, brown butter, toasted pine nuts and zesty lime juice.  It's worth waking up early for and it's definitely worth making!  The original recipe called for pumpkin seeds, which I didn't have, so I used pine nuts and loved it.  I also added some lime zest before serving.  Cauliflower is my JAM, so I'm always excited to find a new way to prepare it (more favs here, here and here).  

Now if you'll excuse me, somebody just said mom 77 times in a row so I must go.

Recipe here.

Kerala crab and steelhead trout on CBC's Weekend Morning Show

 On Saturday morning I will be presenting the following dishes on CBC's Weekend Morning Show with guest host Sarah Penton.  The Wild Caught Alaskan Snow Crab legs, available at Gimli Fish, are so easy to work with!  They are precooked and frozen and the shells are scored to make eating the crab so much easier.