We're still excited!

Dear Food First-ers:



We're still excited from our Food Forum on June 8th! A big thank you again to everyone that attended, volunteered, donated or participated. We are grateful! There was also lots of 'food for thought' from the many fascinating speakers that took part. 



 A popular topic of the day was Food Waste. To help us understand the problem and what we can do about it as individuals, in our jobs, and in our society Jennifer Rustemeyer was one of our great speakers. She spoke on her recent documentary: Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story. We throw away approximately 40 per cent of food in the garbage! This is a staggering number. 

Credit: Eoghan 

Image from: www.foodwastemovie.com 

Jennifer is also the producer of the 2010 documentary The Clean Bin Project. 



As follow-up to the Forum, Food First will be working on a collaborative 'outcomes and next steps' report that will include a wide range of actions we can all take to improve food security in our community. Food waste will be one of the many topics included. So stay tuned for your opportunity to participate!

One Pot Mexican Pasta

Everyone always assumes that because I write a food blog and cook a lot, my kids must be fabulous eaters.  EHHHHHH.  (That's the sound of an annoying buzzer.)  WRONG!  I have picky, picky eaters.  Right around 18 months, each of them have rejected all foods that are healthy (I'm exaggerating, but you get the picture).  It's hard!  I've felt everything from frustration, anger, shame and embarrassment over it.  But on my good days, I realize... they are still growing, they won't be like this forever, and so I go about trying and sneaking, sneaking and trying.  Trying new foods, and when that doesn't work, sneaking them into their meals.  (*Ordinarily, that photo above would be much more beautiful with cilantro, green onions or jalape�os sprinkled on top... but, green things, yeah.)   

Cue this cheesy, one-pot Mexican pasta with a whole lot of, wait for it, SQUASH!  I sneak frozen squash into the ground turkey and it sort of melts into the dish, creating a slightly sweet counterbalance to the spicier Mexican flavors.  Obviously, the best part about this dish is you can make it in under 30 minutes in ONE pot.  And another great thing about this recipe?  I used Chickpea Pasta for some added protein and fiber, which also makes it gluten-free!  (Of course, you can use any pasta that you would like).  My son and toddler loved it. The stubborn middle child?  Well, we had a 1950's style showdown.  She sat there, crying, begging for a treat, resisting even ONE bite, and I held firm and drank a bottle of rose by myself.  

One Pot Mexican Pasta

Serves 6-8

Printable Recipe

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 lb. ground turkey

1/2 pkg. taco seasoning

12 oz. frozen squash, thawed

8 oz. pasta

2 cups chicken stock

1 8 oz. jar taco sauce

1 1/2 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend

In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Add the ground turkey, and cook until no longer pink.  Add the taco seasoning and squash, and cook for a few more minutes, until everything is combined.  Add the pasta, chicken stock and taco sauce and bring to a boil.  Stir everything up, cover the pot, lower to a simmer and cook for another 10 minutes.  Uncover, add cheese, and simmer until cheese has melted and sauce has thickened.  I added a little more cheese on the top before serving.  Top with anything you like!  

*This sort of tasted like a delicious, homemade Hamburger Helper!  

Chocolate Peanut Butter Layer Cake

When is your birthday?  Is it lumped next to another holiday, like Christmas or Halloween?  My mom's birthday is Cinco de Mayo, which always lands relatively close to Mother's Day.  When we were kids, our neighborhood held a block-wide garage sale, and so just as my mom was attempting to rid her house of junk, we went to other people's homes and bought her junk... for her birthday and Mother's Day... one big lump of junk.  Happy Mothers-Birth-Day!  She really deserves an Oscar for her thank you speeches.  Similarly, Carson's birthday is June 22nd, which usually falls extremely close to - if not on - Father's Day.  I think I have guilt over buying my mom someone else's hand soaps, or worn tennis t-shirts for 75 cents, so I make an EFFORT to separate the two for my husband.  I capitalize "effort" because it's not always easy.  This year for certain reasons we had to celebrate both in one weekend, so I knew I needed to bake an epic cake.    

This cake, THIS CAKE!!!  (Imagine I'm violently shaking your shoulders and shouting in your face.)  It is just absurdly good.  It's my friend Audra's recipe (Audra, it's cool that I call you my friend even though we've never met, right?) and she basically NAILS IT as my son would say.  If you like the chocolate and peanut butter combo, then you will die over this cake.  The chocolate cake layers are perfectly moist, and in between each is a layer of thick chocolate ganache and peanut butter frosting.  Nothing is overly sweet, but it is rich and indulgent and a chocolate lover's dream.  Please bake this for the next lumped celebration in your life, or... for no reason at all.      

Recipe HERE.

Ribeyes and Birch Syrup BBQ sauce for Father's Day on CBC's Weekend Morning Show

 This morning on CBC's Weekend Morning Show with host Terry MacLeod, I presented the following ideas for a Father's Day BBQ with Manitoba Ribeye from Wildfire Farms, and incredible Birch Syrup BBQ Sauce from the Canadian Birch Company, both available readily at the St. Norbert's Farmer's Market.

 

Central ingredient from @CanadianBirchCo in Chef Karen Peters rib eye steak. All their products are amazing. #cbcmb pic.twitter.com/BcUPNrsj8X

� Terry MacLeod (@terrymacleod) June 18, 2016

Father�s Day BBQ!  Easy to impress!

Wildfire Farms Ribeye Steaks (Ribeye is tender and has better flavour as, even though it is low fat, it has more fat than tenderloin so has more flavour.  It is situated next to the tenderloin and, along with Striploin or New York Strip, has the most flavour)Available at the St. Norbert�s Farmer�s Market
Canadian Birch Company BBQ Sauce (http://canadianbirchcompany.com/)Available at the St. Norbert�s Farmer�s Market

Roasted or baked sweet potato (for the meat and potatoes Dad to give better health benefit)
Butter and balsamic drizzled over sweet potato, with a sprinkling of sea salt

Saut�ed mushrooms for steak
crumbled blue cheese for steak. 
Optional:  soft fried egg for on top of steak

Saut� whole or sliced mushrooms in a bit of olive oil or butter.  Season with nutmeg, salt and pepper.  Deglaze with White Wine, Mirin or Vermouth.

Enjoy!

Happy Father�s Day!

Spinach and Shrimp Risotto + TODAY

Ohhhh, here we are again.  Morning time.  For those of you with kids, when you hear that pre-6am "mama, mama, mama, mama," do you ever think, hmm, maybe today the breakfast fairy will whisk them out of bed and change their diapers and prepare a meal and I will be able to sleep for another 20 minutes.  Do you ever think that?  Yeah, me neither, that's weird and silly.  Anyways...

We're up!  And it's all good.  I actually needed to get up early to prepare for Father's Day weekend, which is also Carson's birthday weekend, so tonight I'm baking him a cake and I can't wait to share it with you next week.  In the meantime, if you missed my Father's Day segment with Carson on the Today Show yesterday, you can find all the recipes here.  Easy surf and turf... our kind of meal!

p.s.  That is a risotto my mom made while she was visiting last week.  IT WAS DELICIOUS!  She followed this recipe but added peas and pancetta (the latter she cooked in the beginning and added at the end).  I hope you all have lovely weekends celebrating the dads in your lives!  Go dads!  

Thank You!

Burnaby Food First would like to extend a very big thank you to everyone who attend our 'Food Matters: Food for Today & Food for the Future' Forum last week! Attendance was great and we had a lot of fun. Stay tuned for our outcomes report, and follow-up workshops. 



Thank you again as well to our sponsors:

• United Way of the Lower Mainland

• Vancity

• Fraser Health

And thank you to the Burnaby South ACE-IT culinary training program for preparing such amazing food!

Photo Sourced from: http://foodshare.org.au/

Caramelized Mushroom and Onion Mini Tarts

Hello friends.  As I sit here quietly watching the news so that my kids don't hear in the next room, it's hard to find something to say about mushroom and onion tarts.  After a weekend so consumed with death and hate, everything else feels foggy and pointless.  It's so natural to feel enraged, and confused, and sad as hell.  I also feel thankful, for the good, heroic people in this world who rush towards danger to lend a hand, who gather for vigils and memorials, who stand up for love and against hate.  The world keeps turning, even though it may feel completely stuck in place.        

So at your next gathering, look around the room and take in that you're lucky to be present with friends and family.  Surround yourselves with one another, and laughter, and love, and food.  And make these incredibly simple and delicious Caramelized Mushroom and Onion Mini Tarts - I mean, I had to squeeze it in here somewhere.  But honestly, food brings people together.  Food feeds our souls.  Food is love.  Spreading that love today and everyday to all of you!      

Recipe here.