Garden Project: Plant baby progress!

I planted my seeds about 4 weeks ago, and now look at my little plant babies! They are practically ready for kindergarten. Despite not having a ton of direct sunlight they mostly seem to be thriving quite well. Each one of my basils has grown tall - although I certainly don't have room for almost 100 basil plants! Already I've given some to 2 friends and will probably have to leave some on people's doorsteps in the night...

I just transplanted my little hot pepper plants today and they look pretty happy in their new window precariously perched on top of my ironing board which is propped up on some boxes... I should put a 'caution' sign up in that room.

I transplanted some tomatoes just over a week ago, and they are just loving their new pots!

Note to self: Seedlings start out cute and cuddly but they will grow big and strong and will run around the house and knock over your fragile stuff and jump up and lick your face! I mean need to be transplated and take up every one of your windowsills...

I can't wait to plant these outside and start to see some to-ma-toes!

Stay tuned for Operation Building Garden Beds!

Sweet Potato and Pear Soup

Jamie and I are on a 6 week liver cleanse-Daniel fast-health kick. We aren't eating red meat, sugar, white flour or processed foods, and eating as many raw fruits and veggies as we can.So essentially, we're eating healthily. We do have to drink 2 big glasses of water with lemon juice in the morning, which apparently helps to cleanse your liver. It must be working because I always have to pee the whole rest of the morning...

I didn't think we ate that much of the "forbidden foods", red meat, white flour and the like, but it turns out our go-to types of meals like pasta and tex-mex tend to have that stuff in them.

So I've been trying to plan our meals better, and have been looking for new recipes to try. I've been having fun making raw juices, my own mayonnaise, cream cheese and today it was whole wheat tortillas! But, snacking is harder and I reeeeallly am missing sweets - brownies, ice cream, cookies, Easter chocolate... *drool* Anyway!

Here is a great vegetarian recipe that my best friend Naphtali introduced me to, it's deceptively simple yet the flavours of the sweet potato and pear pair nicely. (pear pair... hi hi)

Sweet Potato and Pear Soup Recipe

Ingredients:

2 tbsp butter

1 small white onion

2 large pears

3 big sweet potatoes

3 cups chicken or vegetable stock (I use a homemade bouillon paste - recipe coming soon!)

Salt and pepper to taste

1 cup cream (optional)

Directions:

Chop the onion finely, peel and cube the sweet potatoes and peel, core and cube the pears. My pears were a little small so I threw in an extra one.

Check out my albino sweet potato...

Melt butter in a pot, and sauté onions until soft and translucent.

Add the sweet potato and pear, stir and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Add stock to the pot and bring to a boil, cooking the sweet potato and pear until soft, about 20 minutes.

Blend using either a food processor, blender or hand-held blender (my preferred method).

Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste.

Top with a dollop of homemade yogurt and a dash of celery salt!

Garden Project: Starting seeds indoors

My first thought when I saw the big yard around our new house was - I can have a garden!! My mom always maintained a fairly large garden every year growing up. I remember her getting us to help weed, during which we whined and protested being made to work so hard. (...) Also we tried to get her to pay us. It was hot and mosquito-ey and we would rather be playing and climbing trees! But, of course, we were the first to enjoy tasting the first little cherry tomatoes, the baby carrots and the cute little cucumbers right off the vine. Am I ever thankful that my mom included us in the growing process (albeit somewhat against our will) because I learned to appreciate where food comes from, especially food that you've grown yourself. Can't get much more local than that! I can't wait to try it out and see what we can grow. I would love to have lots of fresh veggies in the summer/fall and try to preserve what I can for the winter.

Here are the seeds I bought:

I got them from the Feel Good Store on Germain St. uptown. Hope Seeds is a local seed harvester and provider, and all the seeds here are organic. You can also order from their seed catalog - cheaper if you are buying in large quantities.

A good start!

It is just amazing to me that all these little seeds will grow plants that make food. Just look at these tiny little suckers - in a couple months they will yield big plants with hundreds of delicious cherry tomatoes. I am in awe of my God who is so creative and industrious!

So I have started a couple seeds indoors, because our Northern summer is just too short to help some plants grow well. I started tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, hot peppers and basil in a cute little coconut fiber seed starting tray that my mom bought me.

Not even two weeks after planting them, here they are all popped up bright and green and ready to rock! Of course the tender love and care that I have lavished on them has probably been very encouraging. I try to make sure they are always watered and have lots of sun - although I still doubt there is any place in my house with enough sun for these guys.

Here is a bright little cherry tomato plant - small but mighty!

A little baby hot pepper plant... turns out these guys like it hot! They needed to be in a warmer room and took about an extra week to sprout.

My handsome little basils sprouted like champions. Pretty much 100% of the seeds I sowed came up. I can't wait to enjoy these bad boys on the tomatoes with some nice balsamic vinaigrette! Oooh and maybe make some pesto...

I'll keep you posted on the progress of my little plant babies. It's all very exciting.

Tuna, Olive and Gruyère Melt

My wonderful husband bought me a block of lovely Gruyère cheese the other day and every day I try to find some way of incorporating it into at least one meal. The flavour is just to die for, so smooth and nutty..,

Once, I almost visited the town of Gruyère, Switzerland, which this cheese is named after, but it didn't quite work out... (Geneva is so close!) I think my Swiss friends would have liked to educate me on cheese-ology because I come from the continent which unfortunately thinks swiss cheese is both Swiss and cheese.

Hello side-note.

So, in my pursuit of daily Gruyère eating, here is what I had for lunch yesterday. First it was going to be just cheese on a bagel, then I thought I'd make a tuna melt, and the olives were just pure inspiration. I love savoury things and these flavours just melded so well together. My husband almost threw up when I showed him. He HATES both tuna and olives. I guess two wrongs don't make a right :)

You can use swiss or emmental cheese if you can't get your hands on some gruyère. Just don't tell any Swiss people about the swiss cheese. They may have you arrested for crimes against cheese.

Tuna, Olive and Gruyère Melt

Ingredients:

Whole wheat bagel, halved

1/2 can tuna

mayonnaise

Squeeze of lemon juice

Salt and pepper

Large green olives, sliced

Gruyère cheese, sliced

Directions:

Mash up the tuna in a bowl, add a dollop of mayonnaise, squeeze of lemon juice and dash of salt and pepper - all to taste. Pat onto the bagel halves, layer on the olive slices and top with gruyère. Pop in the oven until the cheese is melted. Bon appétit!

Homemade wipes

Don't eat these. I just thought I'd put that out there. This may not be an edible recipe but it is a recipe nonetheless, with teaspoons and whisks and everything! For all of you who don't have babes in diapers, these make great all-purpose wipes for hands and faces of any age.

A good friend of mine made these and used them with each of her four kids. When I first saw them I was years away from having my own baby's bum to wipe, but I said to myself, "I am totally going to make my own wipes!" I like knowing what goes into my baby's products, and with these you don't have to buy and throw out countless plastic containers.

These wipes are sturdy and hold up well when cleaning poopy messes. You have to use Bounty paper towels, just because they are the strongest. Use either the whole pieces of the ones that are perforated in half - the wipe itself will be half of whatever size sheet you choose. Another note is that my friend made them with baby oil, but I found that the scent was just too strong for me. I've substituted mineral oil and a few drops of essential oil. I use lavender but I would encourage experimenting - I'm sure scents like mint or lemon would be great too.

Here is the recipe they used, with a couple tweaks.

Homemade Wipes

Ingredients:

1 well-cleaned Kraft peanut butter jar (must be those big ones, 1 kg I think)

1 roll of Bounty paper towel

3/4 cup water

1 tbsp baby shampoo/wash

1 scant tbsp mineral oil or baby oil

2-3 drops of essential oil

Note: Use whatever products you are comfortable

with. All-natural products are clearly best, but use what you've got.

Directions:

First cut your roll of paper towel in half using a large, sharp knife. Don't use a serrated one, it chews up the edges too much (I know this from experience...). Then wiggle or twist or rip out the cardboard roll in the middle. Shove the roll into the peanut butter jar as best you can.

Now measure out the water, baby shampoo and oil into a bowl or measuring cup, and if you are using essential oil, carefully measure in a couple drops. Don't do what I did and dump a teaspoon's worth all at once - way too strong!

Pour the mixture evenly over the paper towel, screw on the lid and wait a couple hours for it to soak through.

Use on your baby's sweet soft little bottom!

Sprouts!

What do you think of when you hear the word sprout? I feel like sprouts are probably misunderstood to be hippy foodie food for hippies and foodies. Not so, my friends! Sprouts are an amazingly easy way to grow nutritious, fresh food all year round. I promise, I am not trying to sell you something, just poke you into explore the scary new world of sprouts. They are easy to make - just soak, rinse, wait, rinse some more... Eat them by themselves, on a sandwich, in a salad, or tossed in a stir-fry. Sprouts will rock your world. If you let them.

My brother (who is also into sprouts) gave me a great gift for Christmas - a jar with a mesh lid, and two little baggies, one with alfalfa seeds, one with radish seeds. For sprouting!

In the past I have used a sieve and a clean cloth to hold my seeds while they sprout - it makes for easy rinsing and keeps them humid. But, hands down, the jar is easiest to work with.

How to make your own sprouts

Materials:

Large Mason jars

Wire mesh fit into the top (cut up a sieve or flat splash guard)

OR

Sieve with a clean cloth inside

Seeds or beans for sprouting

My favourites:

- alfalfa

- radish

- lentils

- chickpeas

- mung beans

(See here for a great guide on how to and what to sprout)

Directions:

Soak your seeds or beans overnight in water.

Drain and set aside - preferably in a dark place. Seeds grow in soil, right?

You want the sprouts to stay humid and at a constant room temperature - not too cold or too hot. If you are sprouting in the sieve, make sure the cloth is folded over the sprouts to keep them humid.

Rinse twice daily, morning and evening. About 2-3 days later, when there is some significant sprouting action going on, place them on a windowsill where they can get some light and soak up some chlorophyll. Once they are long/green/bushy enough for you, place them in the fridge and consume within the week.

If you notice any mold or stinkiness (which can happen with lack of drainage, air circulation or dirty equipment) DO NOT eat them.

Enjoy any way you like!

I love sprouts in salads, sandwiches, wraps... even in stir-fries, just toss them in at the end of cooking. Here is a delicious chicken/greens/sprouts wrap I made for lunch the other day.

Green Thai Curry

I love anything with coconut milk. That silky smooth sweet flavour is so delicious, especially when paired with spicy curry. I love cremini mushrooms in a stir-fry; they are baby portobellos and have such a nice meaty flavour to them. Other great stir-fry veggies are zucchini, peppers, broccoli, celery, carrots, snow peas, whatever floats your stir-fry boat! This curry stir-fry is so simple to make and goes with any combination of your favourite vegetables and chicken or shrimp. Although apparently my little baby's tummy did not agree... she spent most of the next day feeling the gassy effects of the spicy-ness, poor girl.

So, unless you are a nursing mother, you should make this for supper today!

Green Thai Curry

Ingredients:

2 tbsp oil

1 small onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 peppers, red and green

6-7 mushrooms

+ any other veggies you want to add

2 chicken breasts, cubed (or 15-20 shrimps)

1 tbsp Green curry paste

3 shakes Fish sauce

1/2 can coconut milk

No, I did not intend for this blog to be a Thai Kitchen advertisement... use whatever you can find!

Directions:

Fry onions in the oil until soft, then add the garlic. Add chicken, and when just cooked add veggies in order of how long they take to cook. (carrots and celery first, then peppers followed by zucchini, ending with mushrooms) If you are using shrimp add them at the end with the mushrooms. Then stir in the curry paste, fish sauce and coconut milk. Heat together for 5 minutes to blend the flavours, then serve over rice, quinoa or noodles if you prefer. I used brown rice mixed with wild rice.

Voilà! So simple and delicious. Oh and healthy. Unless you think coconut milk is fattening.

Who cares, it's stir-fry!