Peanut Butter Crispy Brown Rice Bars Trump Hate and Hunger
Recipe: Peanut Butter Crispy Brown Rice Bars
When events in the U.S. makes you woozy, satisfy your hunger for something healthy, real and honestly nostalgic with a crispy rice peanut butter square.
By Louise Crosby
(January 29, 2017) OTTAWA, ON -- If you’re a person who aspires to making the world a better place, doing good, not harm, then you’ll be having a hard time stomaching what’s going on south of the border right now. It sinks you soooooo low, makes you feel angry, astounded, outraged, depressed, and, as a Canadian, powerless to do anything about it apart from wearing a pink pussy hat and marching on the street. Which, in Ottawa, was fantastic, by the way.
So for mental health purposes, what do you do? You take a Donald Trump-free day, hop in the car, pick up Mom and sister Doritt, and head for the country, Mom with her sketch pad because she painted watercolours all her life and, at almost 91, isn’t about to stop, and you with your camera, because taking ...
Hit your mental reset button with a sweet green smoothie
Recipe: Reset Button Green Smoothie
A spritely emerald green, this smoothie is packed with kale and spinach, but sweetened naturally with pear, banana and pineapple, so as good as it is for you, it doesn’t taste like medicine.
By Louise Crosby
(January 16, 2017) If you’re anything like me, you’ll be glad that all that holiday business is behind us and we can get on with ordinary life. Downtime is good, bingeing on movies is fun, but there comes a time when you need activity and structure to your day. It lifts your spirits.
And if you roared in to January with a new resolve to be healthier and more physically fit, then this smoothie is for you. It’s from Angela Liddon’s second book, Oh She Glows Everyday. (Her first, The Oh She Glows Cookbook, was wildly successful.) A spritely emerald green, this drink is packed with kale and spinach, but sweetened naturally with pear, banana and pineapple, so as good as it is for you, it doesn’t taste like medicine.
Liddon, ...
Christmas found in Stollen recipe
Recipe: Snidal’s Christmas Stollen
Most store-bought gifts will end up as landfill, so why not fill the tummies of loved-ones with delicious homemade goodies such as German Stollen instead?
By Louise Crosby
(December 14, 2016) - Since my family stopped exchanging gifts at Christmas, food has taken on more importance. This is that one time of the year when you can rationalize buying those fancy Spanish sardines in olive oil, some of that aged-to-perfection, sliced-paper-thin jamón ibérico, that sublime, creamy raw goat cheese from France. Expensive yes, but hey, it’s Christmas.
Of course, it’s also a time for baking. This year I’m making Mexican Wedding Cakes, Chocolate Hazelnut Crinkle Cookies, Coconut Stars, and Pecan Sandies. (Notice that all those cookies contain nuts!) I’m also making this stollen, a recipe that comes from Leslie Snidal, my friend in Nova Scotia who makes it every Christmas, as her mother did. It is baked earlier in December, wrapped up ...
Remembrance of Moosewood
Recipe: Cauliflower Cheese Soup
The vegetarian collective based in Ithaca gave birth to a popular cookbook and launched the career of Molly Katzen back in the 1970s, yet despite changing times, the soup remains the same
By Louise Crosby
There was a time in my life when I lived with friends in an old farmhouse in the country, with chickens in the yard, a big vegetable garden, and lots of cats. During the week, we drove into the city for jobs or school, but come the weekend, we were back-to-the-landers in plaid shirts and work boots, often congregating in the big homey kitchen at some point in the day to cook a communal meal. A rosy picture, I know, but those are my memories. Our little hippie commune worked out pretty well for awhile.
We were all interested in healthy food, and made a lot of beans and brown rice. Unlike now, when new and wonderful cookbooks come out every day, there weren’t as many recipe books to choose from. I mostly remember the Fannie Farmer Cookbook, ...
Soothe your soul with Sweet Potato
Recipe: Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Honey, Espelette & Lime Yogurt
The world may be falling to pieces and suffering from the DTs, but there's hope and healing in a dose of sweet potatoes: they're a comfort food, super, too
By Louise Crosby
(November 15, 2016) It seemed strange, in the past week, to be testing a recipe for sweet potatoes as 'DT' became leader of the free world and Leonard Cohen bid us farewell. The world is a much more worrisome place this week, but we have to hold on to the life we believe in, no matter how mundane, and move forward. So there you go: sweet potatoes.
As you probably already know, these humble spuds are a super food, rich in vitamin A in the form of beta carotene. They are also a good source of vitamin C, manganese, copper, pantothenic acid, potassium, some of the B vitamins, and dietary fiber. Despite their sweetness, they are considered to be low on the glycemic index. So any which way we want to eat these tubers is a good idea.
T...
Coconut fish curry a Diwali delight
Recipe: Coconut Fish Curry
When the weather gets dark and stormy, a fragrant mix of coconut and curry straight out of Kerala will help you find the light with a burst of flavours
By Louise Crosby
(October 29, 2016) -- The sky is grey, the wind is raw and damp, and it’s cold. Winter seems suddenly upon us. But with a little imagination, and the right food, you can transport yourself to a place far away, where the air is warm and fragrant, and soft breezes blow through the coconut palms.
That’s where this Coconut Fish Curry, from Meera Sodha’s Made in India, comes in. Straight out of Kerala, on the southwest coast of India, it is a delicate and luxurious dish, full of onions, ginger, garlic and a touch of heat, brightened with fresh tomato, and mellowed with rich and creamy coconut milk. Served with basmati rice, a sprinkling of cilantro, and a squirt of lime, it will make you forget that it snowed last night.
Sodha’s recipe calls for fresh curry leaves and indeed, ...
Making the most of fall with Maple Shortbread
Food: Maple Shortbread Bar Recipe
The arrival of cool weather and woolly sweaters offers the perfect excuse to make a maple-based dessert featuring rich and gooey pecan filling over a shortbread base
By Louise Crosby
Well, here it is Thanksgiving already and plans are underway for a family get-together, not at the cottage on Lac Sam, in the Gatineau hills, where we often go for one last look at the lake and splendid fall colours, but here in the city, at my sister’s house, where a huge swing set has just been erected in the back yard for all the young ones to play on. (How’s that for an opening sentence?)
My contribution to our pot-luck feast is a vegetable dish to be determined, and a dessert. I did buy two small pie pumpkins a week ago thinking I’d make pies, but this being a busy time of year, when boilers need replacing, windows need washing, and the garden needs tidying, I’m considering alternatives. I’ll make something with those pumpkins when things settle ...
Feeding the mind with a good book and a head of cabbage
Recipe: Red Split Lentils with Cabbage
Cabbage may not get the same respect as other 'it-legumes' such as kale and continental chard, but the humble head is a superfood, too, and cooked up with split red lentils, it's an easy way to stew goodness
By Louise Crosby
One thing I’ve come to appreciate since retiring from the workforce two years ago is the Ottawa Public Library, or the OPL. What a resource. What I most love is the option to reserve, to get in line for a particular publication. It may seem dispiriting to be number 143 in the line-up, but things move quickly and before you know it, the book is yours for three whole weeks. Free! It does happen that books become available all at once, in a big wave, and there’s no way you can read them all in the allotted time, but life is like that and you just get back in line again.
What books am I reading? I just started The Edge of the Empire: A Journey to Britannia, in which the author, Bronwen Riley, takes us on a trip from ...
Fresh Tomato Sauce, Pronto!
Recipe: Quick Fresh Tomato Sauce
Whether it's heirloom or cherry, beefsteak or Roma, fresh tomatoes are bursting with savoury possibilities and endless iterations of a classic
By Louise Crosby
I spent a glorious morning at our local farmers’ market last weekend, buying everything in sight, carrots, potatoes, garlic, corn, squash, beets. Everything looked gorgeous, freshly-picked and full of life. I especially couldn’t resist the tomatoes, plump, juicy, and vibrant red, cherry tomatoes in various shades and sizes, gnarly striped heirloom tomatoes, ordinary slicing tomatoes, and baskets of plum tomatoes for making sauce. Which is what we are doing today.
It will be a wonderful thing, three to four months from now, to dig into your freezer and pull out a container of homemade tomato sauce. Think of it a building block to great food, and imagine how good it will taste with meatballs, or in a spaghetti sauce, or a soup. You will thank yourself for the effort you make now, and ...
Tahini Shortbread opens sesame
Recipe: Tahini Shortbread Cookies
The pale, nutty paste is a staple in Middle Eastern cuisine, but tahini's smooth, creamy consistency also makes for a dreamy cookie full of good stuff
By Louise Crosby
Here on this side of the Atlantic, we know tahini best as an ingredient in hummus and baba ghanoush, or as a sauce for falafel and shawarma sandwiches. But in countries of the Middle East, the Mediterranean and beyond, this lovely stuff has been a staple for thousands of years, an indispensable ingredient in countless dishes savoury and sweet. They even put it on ice cream.
Just to refresh, tahini is pure sesame paste made from white sesame seeds that are soaked, then hulled, gently roasted, and ground to a silky smooth, creamy consistency. The paste, blended with garlic, lemon juice, salt and cumin, and thinned with a bit of water, becomes tahini sauce, also used in countless ways. The best sesame seeds come from the Humera region of Ethiopia, and the best tahini is emulsif...
