The Alberta health care system has been in turmoil for a long time and is often criticized but I just want to point out that some things do work very well.
I really appreciate the Alberta Breast Cancer Screening Program which provides annual checkups in rural areas like Claresholm. A mobile mammography site has been set up in a bus which arrives every year for a few days and a notification arrives in the mail. How great is that? There is no excuse for not having this life saving check up done when you can do it right here without leaving town.
I am very surprised that a year has already gone by and I am grateful that someone keeps track of this as I certainly don’t. I promptly called to make an appointment as this is just something that has to be done.
At the bottom of my reminder it suggests that I ask my friends to do this also, so if you are of the screening age consider yourself reminded.
Check it out at screeningforlife.ca
Thursday 28 July 2011
Sunday 24 July 2011
Summer Food
It has been perfect patio weather lately, these warm summer days with a light breeze and no mosquitoes are the kind of days we wish for during the long winter days. I called everyone in the family today and invited them for a BBQ, golfing and a sleepover in the back yard. We had our vacation in May so the remaining vacation time will be spent right here in Claresholm. While the grownups go golfing, I will take the little kids to the spray park so everyone will be happy.
This week-end we had Greek-style grilled steak and couscous which only requires a few minutes to put together in addition to barbequing the meat.
Please note the meat is marinated for one day prior to cooking!
2 lemons
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tsp. oregano
1 ½ lb sirloin tip steak
1 cup couscous
1 cup Feta cheese
1 tomato, chopped
1 cup cucumber, diced
½ cup sliced pitted black olives
1/3 cup chopped red onion
Salt and pepper
Finely grate lemon peel and squeeze lemon juice. Set half the peel and 3 tbsp. of the juice aside. In a glass dish, combine remaining lemon peel and juice, 3 tbsp. of the olive oil and oregano. Pierce steak numerous times on both sides with a fork. Add steak to dish, and cover with plastic and refrigerate for 12 to 24 hour. Turning occasionally.
In medium saucepan, bring 1 cup water to boil. Remove from heat and stir in couscous. Cover and let stand 5 minutes. Fluff with wooden spoon and stir in remaining olive oil, reserved lemon peel and juice. Let cool slightly.
Meanwhile, pre-heat BBQ and discard marinade. BBQ steak for 5 to 6 minutes per side until it reaches desired doneness. Let the meat rest under foil for 5 minutes before slicing thinly.
Gently stir Feta, tomato, cucumber and olives into couscous and season with salt and pepper. Mix in sliced beef and serve with bread if you wish.
Enjoy!
This week-end we had Greek-style grilled steak and couscous which only requires a few minutes to put together in addition to barbequing the meat.
Please note the meat is marinated for one day prior to cooking!
2 lemons
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tsp. oregano
1 ½ lb sirloin tip steak
1 cup couscous
1 cup Feta cheese
1 tomato, chopped
1 cup cucumber, diced
½ cup sliced pitted black olives
1/3 cup chopped red onion
Salt and pepper
Finely grate lemon peel and squeeze lemon juice. Set half the peel and 3 tbsp. of the juice aside. In a glass dish, combine remaining lemon peel and juice, 3 tbsp. of the olive oil and oregano. Pierce steak numerous times on both sides with a fork. Add steak to dish, and cover with plastic and refrigerate for 12 to 24 hour. Turning occasionally.
In medium saucepan, bring 1 cup water to boil. Remove from heat and stir in couscous. Cover and let stand 5 minutes. Fluff with wooden spoon and stir in remaining olive oil, reserved lemon peel and juice. Let cool slightly.
Meanwhile, pre-heat BBQ and discard marinade. BBQ steak for 5 to 6 minutes per side until it reaches desired doneness. Let the meat rest under foil for 5 minutes before slicing thinly.
Gently stir Feta, tomato, cucumber and olives into couscous and season with salt and pepper. Mix in sliced beef and serve with bread if you wish.
Enjoy!
Monday 18 July 2011
Waste Not
I have just started reading “American Wasteland” by Jonathan Bloom and it is certainly thought provoking, he states that roughly half of the food in North America is wasted.
Throwing away food is just wrong. I used to think of it only in terms of money wasted, but now I realize that there is so much more involved. Early on in our marriage, while cleaning up the kitchen and putting the leftovers away, my husband would ask me “honey, should I just throw the leftovers out now or do you want to wait a week?”. I used to be offended as I always had the best intentions of taking the leftovers to work or eating them the following day, but it often didn’t happen. It always bothered me, but eventually I learned to do a quick fridge clean out on the morning of garbage day so the guilt didn’t last too long.
A lot of food is wasted in the grocery store – only perfect, unblemished food is being displayed and sold and if it is getting close to expiring it will be thrown out. While shopping the other day, my daughter and I decided to buy a fruit platter to take to the park as a snack. I quickly checked the label and found that the fresh fruit platter was packaged in the USA – this grocery store has a deli with everything needed to cut up and package food for retail sale, why would they not cut up fruit already in the store? How old was the cut up fruit in the fridge display? How do they preserve cut up fruit for two weeks? I don’t think I want to know.
Sometimes it takes someone to spell it out for us, to connect the dots I guess, because it is not just about throwing away food, it is also about how much energy was used to grow the food that is destined to be thrown out anyway. Fuel was used to seed the field, fertilizer was applied to the field, fuel was used to harvest the field, fuel was used to transport the fruits or vegetables to the warehouse in a refrigerated truck before finally arrived in our store. Here is sits until I buy it and drive it home where it sits in my refrigerator until it is thrown out! Now fuel is needed to truck it to the landfill where it will rot and create greenhouse gas.
Today food waste stops in our house, I am placing a large piece of cardboard covering the kitchen garbage can and I will record any food waste that happens so I can be more aware and accountable.
There is a fine line between planning for several meals at the time and buying too much food that does not get used and then thrown out. I am not sure what will work best but for me but for now I am going to buy less so I can make sure it gets used.
Eating food that is grown closer to home is healthier and cheaper and also benefits the environment – how many more reasons do we need?
Throwing away food is just wrong. I used to think of it only in terms of money wasted, but now I realize that there is so much more involved. Early on in our marriage, while cleaning up the kitchen and putting the leftovers away, my husband would ask me “honey, should I just throw the leftovers out now or do you want to wait a week?”. I used to be offended as I always had the best intentions of taking the leftovers to work or eating them the following day, but it often didn’t happen. It always bothered me, but eventually I learned to do a quick fridge clean out on the morning of garbage day so the guilt didn’t last too long.
A lot of food is wasted in the grocery store – only perfect, unblemished food is being displayed and sold and if it is getting close to expiring it will be thrown out. While shopping the other day, my daughter and I decided to buy a fruit platter to take to the park as a snack. I quickly checked the label and found that the fresh fruit platter was packaged in the USA – this grocery store has a deli with everything needed to cut up and package food for retail sale, why would they not cut up fruit already in the store? How old was the cut up fruit in the fridge display? How do they preserve cut up fruit for two weeks? I don’t think I want to know.
Sometimes it takes someone to spell it out for us, to connect the dots I guess, because it is not just about throwing away food, it is also about how much energy was used to grow the food that is destined to be thrown out anyway. Fuel was used to seed the field, fertilizer was applied to the field, fuel was used to harvest the field, fuel was used to transport the fruits or vegetables to the warehouse in a refrigerated truck before finally arrived in our store. Here is sits until I buy it and drive it home where it sits in my refrigerator until it is thrown out! Now fuel is needed to truck it to the landfill where it will rot and create greenhouse gas.
Today food waste stops in our house, I am placing a large piece of cardboard covering the kitchen garbage can and I will record any food waste that happens so I can be more aware and accountable.
There is a fine line between planning for several meals at the time and buying too much food that does not get used and then thrown out. I am not sure what will work best but for me but for now I am going to buy less so I can make sure it gets used.
Eating food that is grown closer to home is healthier and cheaper and also benefits the environment – how many more reasons do we need?
Monday 11 July 2011
Focaccia Bread
I am a bit obsessed with local and homemade food and yesterday I accomplished both.
You too can be a hero in your own house with this easy focaccia bread – the secret is the olive oil and parmesan cheese which is mixed into the dough in addition to being a topping with the rosemary. Using quick raise yeast means that you can enjoy this warm bread with dinner even if you don’t start until 4:30 tonight.
The smell of bread baking in the house seems to draw everyone to the kitchen and bread goes with any meal in my opinion. In our house focaccia bread is served with a mixture of olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dipping but its good without it too.
Last night we had sausages from the Farm and I made mashed potatoes which were also done in record time. I chopped the peeled potatoes and boil them for 20 minutes together with a chopped leek and two cloves of garlic. Drain the water and mash together with butter, milk and cheese. My mashed potatoes are different every time depending on what I have in my fridge. The liquid can be milk or cream, any kind of cheese and also a couple of tablespoons of Ranch or Caesar dressing goes well in the potatoes. Salt and pepper and it’s done.
Now that I have teen-agers it is important to me that they see that most nights something is prepared in our kitchen. Even if it is only macaroni salad to go with the grilled cheese sandwiches, dinner is made at home.
Focaccia Bread
1 pkg. rapid-rise yeast
1 cup warm water
3 cups flour
¼ cup parmesan cheese (plus topping)
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil (plus topping)
1 tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
2 tbsp. rosemary chopped
Combine yeast with warm water and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, in bowl combine 2 cups flour, parmesan cheese, olive oil, salt and pepper, stir in yeast mixture and carefully add more flour until dough forms into a ball. On lightly floured surface knead dough until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Don’t add too much flour, it has to be slightly sticky. Cover and let rest for 5 minutes.
Spray a 9 x 13 baking pan with pam and evenly press dough into pan. Cover and let rise in warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour. (I put the pan in the microwave as it tends to be warm and draft free).
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees and using two fingers make indents in the bread about 2 inches apart; do not press through to the bottom. Drizzle with 2 tbsp. of olive oil and bake for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with rosemary and additional parmesan cheese and bake for an additional 5 minutes. Cool on rack for 5 minutes and then remove from pan and let cool on rack.
Serve with olive oil and balsamic vinegar if you wish.
You too can be a hero in your own house with this easy focaccia bread – the secret is the olive oil and parmesan cheese which is mixed into the dough in addition to being a topping with the rosemary. Using quick raise yeast means that you can enjoy this warm bread with dinner even if you don’t start until 4:30 tonight.
The smell of bread baking in the house seems to draw everyone to the kitchen and bread goes with any meal in my opinion. In our house focaccia bread is served with a mixture of olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dipping but its good without it too.
Last night we had sausages from the Farm and I made mashed potatoes which were also done in record time. I chopped the peeled potatoes and boil them for 20 minutes together with a chopped leek and two cloves of garlic. Drain the water and mash together with butter, milk and cheese. My mashed potatoes are different every time depending on what I have in my fridge. The liquid can be milk or cream, any kind of cheese and also a couple of tablespoons of Ranch or Caesar dressing goes well in the potatoes. Salt and pepper and it’s done.
Now that I have teen-agers it is important to me that they see that most nights something is prepared in our kitchen. Even if it is only macaroni salad to go with the grilled cheese sandwiches, dinner is made at home.
Focaccia Bread
1 pkg. rapid-rise yeast
1 cup warm water
3 cups flour
¼ cup parmesan cheese (plus topping)
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil (plus topping)
1 tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
2 tbsp. rosemary chopped
Combine yeast with warm water and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, in bowl combine 2 cups flour, parmesan cheese, olive oil, salt and pepper, stir in yeast mixture and carefully add more flour until dough forms into a ball. On lightly floured surface knead dough until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Don’t add too much flour, it has to be slightly sticky. Cover and let rest for 5 minutes.
Spray a 9 x 13 baking pan with pam and evenly press dough into pan. Cover and let rise in warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour. (I put the pan in the microwave as it tends to be warm and draft free).
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees and using two fingers make indents in the bread about 2 inches apart; do not press through to the bottom. Drizzle with 2 tbsp. of olive oil and bake for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with rosemary and additional parmesan cheese and bake for an additional 5 minutes. Cool on rack for 5 minutes and then remove from pan and let cool on rack.
Serve with olive oil and balsamic vinegar if you wish.
Wednesday 6 July 2011
Without Papers Pizza
I just had an amazing two hour lunch at Without Papers Pizza with two of the favorite guys in my life and for a small town girl like me, Inglewood in Calgary is the place to go for great pizza.
Without Papers has just been voted the best pizza place in Calgary and we tried The Hutch, The Shroom and The Pollo Pesto planning on sharing and taking home the leftovers. There were no leftover, none, we ate it all, and then our fabulous waitress Karly came and convinced us that we should have dessert.
We ordered The Julie named after Julie Van Rosendaal and the person behind the wonderful blog Dinner with Julie. It was amazing and definitely the best dessert pizza we have ever had. The combination of ricotta, wine poached pears and nutella was perfect.
The fact that this restaurant carry McManus wine by the glass just made it even more special to me as that is one of my favorite wines.
I love restaurants that focus on what they are good at and keep it simple. It is a one page menu, it’s all pizza; no cheese burger on this menu, if you don’t like pizza, don’t go here. Simplicity extends to the kitchen too, imagine trying to have everything on hand, at any time when you have a five page menu, looking at this menu, not much kitchen/storage space is required.
Treating each child to some undivided attention is probably one the best things you can do for kids. This is not the kind of place to take small children but perfect for teen-agers and it is good to show them something other than fast food. We spent lots of time discussing the ingredients and combinations and we got our son to try something new. Despite the descriptive words like cacciatore, calabrese and bocconcini, his pizza was basically meat and cheese, but spicy.
I can’t wait to go back and try another 3 pizzas – who wants to go?
Without Papers has just been voted the best pizza place in Calgary and we tried The Hutch, The Shroom and The Pollo Pesto planning on sharing and taking home the leftovers. There were no leftover, none, we ate it all, and then our fabulous waitress Karly came and convinced us that we should have dessert.
We ordered The Julie named after Julie Van Rosendaal and the person behind the wonderful blog Dinner with Julie. It was amazing and definitely the best dessert pizza we have ever had. The combination of ricotta, wine poached pears and nutella was perfect.
The fact that this restaurant carry McManus wine by the glass just made it even more special to me as that is one of my favorite wines.
I love restaurants that focus on what they are good at and keep it simple. It is a one page menu, it’s all pizza; no cheese burger on this menu, if you don’t like pizza, don’t go here. Simplicity extends to the kitchen too, imagine trying to have everything on hand, at any time when you have a five page menu, looking at this menu, not much kitchen/storage space is required.
Treating each child to some undivided attention is probably one the best things you can do for kids. This is not the kind of place to take small children but perfect for teen-agers and it is good to show them something other than fast food. We spent lots of time discussing the ingredients and combinations and we got our son to try something new. Despite the descriptive words like cacciatore, calabrese and bocconcini, his pizza was basically meat and cheese, but spicy.
I can’t wait to go back and try another 3 pizzas – who wants to go?
Sunday 3 July 2011
Graduation Day
Yesterday we celebrated our son’s graduation from high school and I am almost as excited as he is. I have worried a lot about him and his future but I realize now that he will be fine, he just needs some time to figure what it is that he wants to do with his life.
As we sat in the audience my husband and I again congratulated each other on our decision to move to a small town as we were surrounded by familiar faces. Graduation Day is a very special day in a small town as almost everyone is part of it. You probably either have a family member or friend who has a Graduate today, or you taught one, you employed one or you live next door to one. The kids may not realize how lucky they are to part of a community where everyone knows them and their families but this is uniquely small town. The dinner was prepared and served by the Lion’s Club which is another group of Town familiar faces that these kids have grown up with and who eagerly helped make this day special for the kids and their families.
Soon most of these kids will pack up their stuff and move on – either to University or college, to travel the world or to start work and then the new reality will be before them. They are now Grown Ups - money or the lack thereof, will now become a constant reminder of the ‘real world’ and they will have to quickly learn to manage their funds.
If I could give the kids only one piece of advice it would be this, ALWAYS SAVE 10% OF WHATEVER YOU EARN! If you can get used to live on 90% of your income for the rest of our life, it will never matter how much you earn, only what you spend.
David Chilton, who wrote the book "The Wealthy Barber" has been promoting this simple concept of saving 10% of whatever you make for a long time and he has a new book coming out soon which I look forward to reading. I will tuck a copy of “The Wealthy Barber” into my son’s suitcase and hope he will take the time to read it.
Congratulations Alexander and Good Luck!
As we sat in the audience my husband and I again congratulated each other on our decision to move to a small town as we were surrounded by familiar faces. Graduation Day is a very special day in a small town as almost everyone is part of it. You probably either have a family member or friend who has a Graduate today, or you taught one, you employed one or you live next door to one. The kids may not realize how lucky they are to part of a community where everyone knows them and their families but this is uniquely small town. The dinner was prepared and served by the Lion’s Club which is another group of Town familiar faces that these kids have grown up with and who eagerly helped make this day special for the kids and their families.
Soon most of these kids will pack up their stuff and move on – either to University or college, to travel the world or to start work and then the new reality will be before them. They are now Grown Ups - money or the lack thereof, will now become a constant reminder of the ‘real world’ and they will have to quickly learn to manage their funds.
If I could give the kids only one piece of advice it would be this, ALWAYS SAVE 10% OF WHATEVER YOU EARN! If you can get used to live on 90% of your income for the rest of our life, it will never matter how much you earn, only what you spend.
David Chilton, who wrote the book "The Wealthy Barber" has been promoting this simple concept of saving 10% of whatever you make for a long time and he has a new book coming out soon which I look forward to reading. I will tuck a copy of “The Wealthy Barber” into my son’s suitcase and hope he will take the time to read it.
Congratulations Alexander and Good Luck!
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