The Birthday Party That I Want

My birthday is about a year away and while it won't be a huge milestone I would love to have something like this "Up" themed birthday party that I found on Hostess with the Mostest blog. Now the party is for a seven year old and I assure you that I am far from that but I loved the whimsical theme! It was photographed and created by Wendy Updegraff Photography and it is adorable. Check it out!



The party was an outdoor movie night complete with popcorn, Stewart's soda and a great cake!



The Up characters were printed off the Disney website



I love the sprinkles, flags and even the signage. The attention to detail is amazing!



The cake is a dream and I would love to be able to create something like this!




Each guest received their own adventure book



The movie screen was made from a sheet and silk fabric. The fairy lights in the trees are a great touch as well



And here's the kicker: A balloon wreath. I should only hope that I will be this creative and meticulous for my children's birthday parties...sigh.

Dinner Sans Le Garcon

J.S is working late tonight and I had a craving for eggplant. Why eggplant? I can't answer that. It's versatile as it can prepared so many different ways: roasted, grilled, broiled, pureed or barbecued. They are meaty and delicious and I haven't had a craving for a vegetable like the way I did today in a long time...not since I wanted asparagus and ate it for about a week straight. I have not wanted it since.
J.S hates eggplant. And I know "hate" is a strong word (as my Mum likes to remind me regularly) but his dislike for it is very strong, ever since I forced him to try eggplant Parmesan last winter. So because he was working I decided to indulge in my craving and he had tuna sandwiches...any type of sandwich and he's happy.

I bought them, rushed home because...surprise! Canadian winter has officially hit and then I stood staring at them on the counter for a bit. I had no idea what to do with them. What I came up with was delicious, addictive, and so simple. I almost ate the entire dish. Almost. Um, there is a slight chance I may finish it by the end of the evening.

Broiled Eggplant with Chickpeas, Roasted Tomato Sauce&Goat Cheese

I used homemade tomato sauce that I made about a month before I decided to eat as local as possible hence the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, pepper and sea salt. I posted the recipe below. Any thick tomato sauce will do the trick. If you are using jarred sauce I recommend Neal Brothers its organic, Canadian and apparently a family member of mine dated one of them...not that it affects their food whatsoever!



Broiled Eggplant with Chickpeas, Roasted Tomato Sauce and Goat Cheese serves two
1 small to medium size eggplant sliced into 1/2'' slices
1 cup of Roasted Tomato Sauce recipe below
1 cup of chickpeas (garbanzo beans) that have been soaked overnight or canned
1 tablespoon of crumbled goat cheese
A few fresh basil leaves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lay eggplant on cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Remove eggplant and turn each piece over, turn on broiler and place the tray back in the oven for another 3 minutes. Remove the tray and turn the oven back to 350 degrees. Place the eggplant in a 9x9 glass dish and cover with 3/4 of the tomato sauce, layer the chickpeas on top, followed by another layer of tomato sauce and the goat cheese. Bake for 20 minutes or until the cheese turns golden. Serve and sprinkle with basil.

This would be great served with quinoa, polenta,barley, a green salad or a hearty loaf of bread.

Roasted Tomato Sauce makes approximately two yummy cups

3lbs of tomatoes preferably organic and local

2 heads of garlic 

1/2 of olive oil

1 small bunch of basil torn into small pieces

1 teaspoon aged balsamic vinegar

sea salt

fresh ground pepper

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Slice tomatoes in half and place on a large cookie tray. Drizzle with 1 teaspoon of olive oil and season with sea salt and pepper. Wrap the heads of garlic in aluminum foil and place on tray with tomatoes. Roast for two hours. In a blender or food processor puree the tomatoes, the rest of the olive oil, the basil and balsamic vinegar together. Open the garlic packets and gently squeeze the roasted garlic in to the blender and puree. Season to taste. This keeps in the refrigerator for up to 2 days or freeze for winter!

Market Fresh

I hope everyone had a safe and happy halloween and enjoyed an array of candy. Unfortunately I did not as candy isn't "local"...sigh...truthfully I didn't miss it much.

Saturday morning J.S and I went to Brickworks Farmer's Market located in the Don Valley in Toronto. I have lived in this city for over ten years and I had yet to venture there. I love, love, loved it! A collection of historic brick buildings that was once a brick factory it is nestled amongst the Don River Valley. It was amazing to be in an area that is so old but still see the Toronto skyline. It was a rather frosty morning as J.S commented "We can see our breath!" and he wasn't very happy that I made him forego his ritual Starbucks in order to catch the bus on time but the coffee we found there was amazing! It was from The Merchants of Green Coffee and they literally roasted the beans in front of us. The beans are from a sustainable coop called the Montes de Oro, it was the first coffee I have had in over a month but it was so worth it. Aside from the coffee we went for a walk around the grounds and picked up farm-fresh eggs, beets, potatoes, leeks, royal gala apples, kale, and goat cheese. J.S also had a locally made hotdog with beet ketchup and horseradish mustard that he said was out of this world...although for a guy that requested kraft dinner and hotdogs for lunch I sometimes wonder.

Green Goddess

Thursday night I went out to Fresh on Bloor with Andrea (checkout her blog The Sane Spot) to have a delicious veg meal. Of the three locations in Toronto I had only been to the one on Spadina a few years ago so it was great to check out this one especially with my new diet. We opted to have the fixed prix menu: a choice of fruit smoothie or vegetable juice, an appetizer, a main and dessert for $21. I opted for the The Pink Dolphin (raspberries, mango and banana), Curried Avocado Dosas, The Green Goddess Bowl and a Chocolate Chip Cookie for dessert. I basically rolled outta there. Literally. I had about four bites of my Green Goddess Bowl and had to take the rest to go but it made an excellent brunch on Friday morning.

It was a great meal and while a lot of the ingredients: mango, banana, brown rice, tahini, ginger, chocolate, oats and flour are not local I have decided to give myself a little leeway.  If I go out for dinner or I am invited to eat someone's house I will try to eat locally and as organic as possible but I know I can't promise it. I mean I already feel like an inconvenience being a vegetarian and going to someone's house to eat so I cannot demand local stuff as well. While I am out dining I cannot tour the kitchen or read labels so I will try my best.

Green Goddess Bowl

This was my oh-so-delicious bowl of goodness! Baby bok choy, kale, broccoli, and seaweed on top of brown rice, topped with sunflower seeds, tahini, and grilled tempeh. 

Ms. Andrea enjoying her Buddha Bowl

I have a super busy weekend ahead of me with papers and beginning to pack for our move at the end of November. So I will try to write about my Brickworks Farmer's Market experience but I can't promise anything! I am hoping I will find some yummy things to cook with!

What are your plans for the weekend? Anyone have any good moving tips?

Houston We Have A Problem

I have had a revelation. Coffee does not grow in Canada. Coffee does not even grow in the United States. I work at Starbucks. I am a coffee addict...did I mention I work at Starbucks? I can't even have tea at work because it doesn't come from anywhere near 100 miles. This 5 am thing is about to get a lot harder. Warning:Stay away as I cannot be blamed for my actions!

The other issue that I have stumbled upon in the last few days is the fact that I will need to have tofu and beans. Eating within a 100 mile radius is all well and good but when the authors Alisa Smith and J.B MacKinnon started this movement they ate meat. Organic, free-range Ontario meat is readily available to me, only I do not want to eat it. I am going to need to get my iron from some where. I know Yang Yang Tofu at the St. Lawrence Market makes their own tofu so perhaps I will check them out. Only I do not know where their soy beans are from. This is going to get really hard!!!!!

Lastly I live in the beaches, a lovely community, don't get me wrong but the only grocery stores here are the FoodLand and the Wholesome Food Market. Both are ridiculously overpriced and the latter is more of a dispensary than a food store. I have also noticed that it is very hard to buy local and organic at the grocery stores. It is either one or the other and rarely both. So I am debating whether I attempt to purchase more organic produce for a year or do I stick to local? The other night I attempted to only by local produce from FoodLand and our dinner went something like this:

4 Ontario Gold Potatoes, Thinly Sliced

1 Onion, sliced

1/8 of a Ontario Pumpkin, Cubed

2 Cups of Ontario Kale, chopped

1 Cup Organic Milk (the higher in milk fat the better)

1/2 Cup of Water

1 tsp organic butter

1/2 tsp each of rosemary, thyme, basil

1/2 Cup of breadcrumbs (I used day old ACE bakery bread that I smashed to oblivion in a ziploc bag)

Saute onion in butter until golden. In a casserole dish layer sliced potatoes, onions, pumpkin, and kale. Mix milk and water together, add rosemary, thyme, and basil. Pour milk mixture over the potatoes. Top with bread crumbs. Bake in the oven for 1 hour.

The result was good. Not fantastic but certainly not terrible. I chopped up pancetta for J.S and topped his with it. He liked it. If I had to compare it to something I would say scallop potatoes. 

On Saturday I am venturing to Brickworks Farmer's Market. I am very excited about this. I can go to St. Lawrence basically anytime I am downtown and I find it has becoming pretty commercialized. I am dragging J.S on Saturday and he will enjoy it...even if it means feeding him homemade cinnamon buns that the sell there. Hopefully I will find a larger assortment of vegetables there.

Mushrooms, Kale and Creamy Parmesan Polenta

If this isn't comfort food then I do not know what it is. Mixed cremini and portebella mushrooms, kale, garlic, in a veg friendly broth served on top of creamy golden polenta. It's like a stew on mashed potatoes...only a lot better!

Rainy night perfection. Not to mention it takes about thirty minutes from start to finish and the boy likes it! He was skeptical about me going vegetarian...I think it was for his own steak craving needs but he hasn't complained once! And I even got an "mm oh yeah" out of him when he tasted this. That is the sign when I know he likes something or not. Throw in some chicken if you like or feel free to swiss chard or maybe spinach in place of the kale.

Braised Mushrooms and Polenta
Serves 4

2 lbs of mixed mushrooms sliced-white, cremini, portabella, whatever you can get your hands on (although white tend to not have the "earthy" flavour that others do)
1 bunch of organic kale chopped
1/2 carton of reduced sodium organic vegetable broth
2 tbs of crushed garlic
Pepper
1 glug of Olive Oil (I warn you I don't always measure!)

1 Cup of Polenta
2 Cups of Water
3 Cups of reduced sodium organic vegetable broth
1/4 grated Parmesan cheese
Fresh Pepper
Sea Salt
Cream (optional)

Heat olive oil in a skillet with high edges or a sauce pan over medium heat. Add garlic and saute for 1 minute. Add the mushrooms and pepper,cover and let cook for 2-3 minutes. Remove lid and crank the heat, keep your eye on them and cook until golden. Pour vegetable broth over the mushrooms and add the kale. Cover and cook until the kale is slightly wilted.

Meanwhile boil your vegetable broth and water together for the polenta. When the water is boiling whisk in the polenta. Keep whisking. Feel your arm muscles! Do not let this baby clump! When it is smooth remove it from heat and add the cheese, fresh pepper, sea salt, and a bit of cream. Whisk it together until it's smooth and creamy.

Put polenta in a bowl and top with mushroom mixture. Sprinkle on a little more Parmesan if you like and enjoy!

Here We Go

It's not New Years. In fact, New Years is a good ways away...or at least I like to think it is because the sooner it is the sooner Christmas is and that reminds me how I need to start my shopping. Ugh. Nevertheless, I am making some resolutions:

1) Stick to the Vegetarian diet that I started one month ago for at least a year
2) Buy locally for a year
3) Get in to the best possible shape that I can this year

Now I have faith, I really do, but willpower...well that I am lacking in. The vegetarian diet is no problem. I was raised a vegetarian but I slipped up in high school and for the last five years I have been eating meat. I am also a self-proclaimed foodie. I love to cook, invent and experiment in the kitchen.It wasn't until I started reading up on sustainability, buying locally, and the state of the food industry that I decided to give it up. Thanksgiving was a little hard. No turkey or stuffing. But the plus side? You do not get that aching, bursting at the seams, have to wear pregnancy pants (remember Joey in that Friends episode?) kind of full.

The buying locally will be relatively easy as well, I am blessed to live in Toronto with a bountiful bunch of Farmer's Markets. The thing is, I love a lot of produce that does not grow in our balmy Canadian climate. Pineapple. Avocado. Chocolate. Oh Lord, I will fail this one!

And number three, I will get into shape! Now, my huggable man does not want me to loose weight. He likes curvy women. I agree with him, I do not want to loose a pound. What I do want is to be strong. Right now I am a size two (don't roll your eyes, I said I didn't want to loose weight!) I simply want a body that will be as healthy as it can be. My lovely friend Andrea has made a commitment to run a half marathon next year and she has inspired me. While I don't know whether or not I will be running one of those anytime soon I can still train my body and get into shape in the process.

So can I give up meat, chocolate and learn to love the treadmill within a year? How will this change me? Come and tag along and watch my progress along the way!