Please join me starting May 1st and enjoy a fresh new (or old favourite) recipe every day for a month..  Bring on the spring.

Noodles In Broth

-Also Ingrids 11th Birthday!

I told Ingrid I would make anything she wanted for her birthday supper. She requested her favorite “Noodles in Broth” !

1 8-Ounce package udon or soba noodles

A 3-inch strip kombu

2 Dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in 1 cup water for 15 minutes, destemmed, and sliced

4 Cups spring water

2-3  Tablespoons shoyu

1 Tablespoon mirin (optional)

1 Drop brown rice vinegar(optional)

Scallions for garnish

1 Sheet toasted nori sea vegetable , cut into 1-inch-by-1/4-inch strips

Toasted sesame seeds, bonito flakes, or grated ginger (optional)

Cook noodles, rinse with cold water, and drain. Place kombu and shiitake in a pot and add water and shiitake soaking water. Bring to a boil. Reduce flame to medium low and simmer for about 10 minutes. Remove kombu and slice into thin strips and add back to the stock. Reduce the flame to low. Add shoyu(add mirin and rice vinegar, if desired) to taste and simmer for 3-5 minutes. Place the noodles in serving bowls and ladle broth on top of them. Garnish with scallions, slices of shiitake, and strips of nori. If desired, add optional garnishes , too.

-Ingrid wanted a “garden party” so she invited a few friends over and on a lovely  12 degree (Celsius) day, she blew bubbles and planted flowers and ate Noodles in Broth! 

All recipes are printed with permission from Jessica Porter

Hambulghur Helper

Toasted sesame oil to fry tempeh, plus 1 tablespoon

8oz Tempeh, sliced into bite sized cubes

1 Medium onion, diced

1/8 Teaspoon sea salt

1 Large carrot, cut into matchsticks

2 Cups bulghur wheat

1 Cup whole wheat rotini or elbow noodles

5 cups spring water

3 tablespoons of shoyu

2 Tablespoons mirin

1/8 Teaspoon brown rice vinegar

Kernels from 1 ear of corn

2 Stalks celery, diced

In a large frying pan, heat sesame oil over meidum heat. When hot (but not smoking) add tempeh, frying the cubes until browned and crispy. Remove from heat and let drain on paper towels. Set aside.

In a large saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon of sesame oil over medium heat. Add onion and salt and saute until translucent. Add carrot and saute for a few more minutes. Pour in bulghur wheat and noodles, stirring them into the vegetables. Fold in tempeh. Mix water, shoyu, mirin, and vinegar altogether, and add to pot. Bring to a boil uncovered, reduce flame to low, cover, and place on flame deflector. Let simmer 15 minutes. Add corn and celery. Cook for 5 more minutes. Remove from heat and let sit a couple of minutes to prevent sticking. Serve.

-This dish was solid comfort food, a fast one-pot meal. We thought it could have been made with half the tempeh though. 

All recipes posted with permission from Jessica Porter 

Tomorrow I will be starting the THIRD annual spring challenge.  The last  two years went great! I used Aveline Kushi’s book(The Complete Guide To macrobiotic Cooking), then Christina Cooks-Everything You Always Wanted to Know about WholeFoods but were afraid to ask. This year I have chosen The Hip Chick’s guide to Macrobiotics by Jessica Porter. She is a great chef with  a kooky sense of humor and her book is full of fun recipes . Soon you will be having a great laugh and will feel wonderful eating her delicious recipes . Don’t worry if you don’t own this book. I will be posting the recipes everyday with photos. Or, pick your favorite cookbook  or chef to follow. The point is adding new recipes to our daily repertoire.

Today is Day 1- Finding your cookbook and collecting your groceries.

This first week all  recipes will be  on Grains!

1- Perfect Brown Rice

2-Mediterranean Barley Salad

3- Rice, Avacado And Corn Salad

4-Good Morning Oat Porridge

5- Quinoa Salad

6-Millet Mashed “Potatoes” With Mushroom Gravy

7- Kasha And Cabbage

Please post comments and photo’s of what you are cooking!

All recipes are printed with permission from Jessica Porter.

Please join me starting May 1st and enjoy a fresh new (or old favourite) recipe every day for a month..  Bring on the spring.

AN INTERACTIVE COOKING CLASS SERIES

WINTER, SPRING, SUMMER, FALL

This month it’s all about MUSHROOMS! 

Thursday February 16th at 6:30 p.m

Tasty whole foods supper club. Fun, interactive cooking classes.

After all the washing,sorting, chopping, slicing, sauteing, flipping and frying you get to sit down and enjoy our creations.

With humor and guidance we will collectively make the meal together.

We’ll make a party out of it!

THE THIRD THURSDAY EVENING  OF EVERY MONTH AT THE ST PAUL’S CHURCH COMMUNITY KITCHEN ON THE CORNER OF PRINCE AND RICHMOND ST CHARLOTTETOWN 6:30 P.M  $25.00 PER PERSON CALL 902-367-9491 FOR MORE INFO or e-mail me here.. 

Whole foods cooking class CBC interview

 Please register before noon on Wednesday February 8th !

An interactive  Whole foods/vegetarian cooking class

After all the washing,sorting, chopping, slicing, sauteing, flipping and frying you get to sit down and enjoy our creations.

With humor and guidance we will collectively make the meal together.

We’ll make a party out of it!

Bring your partner or other guest and a bottle of wine to enjoy the results of your vegetarian cooking  class at the Y Loft.

*NEWS! Kids Can Cook program will be held on Thursdays ONLY for the Fall Semester. Starting September 22 at 3 p.m  Hope to see you there! 

After School Program

Fun in the kitchen with macrobiotics and fresh local whole foods, sewing creations, crafts and dance!

I’m very excited to be spending time with your wonderful children. I hope they all enjoy the fall program with me. We will be dancing, making crafts and doing lots of cooking! All of our projects will be hands on, using local organic ingredients as much as possible and recycled goods for our craft projects.

September 16-December 14th 2010

All Elementary School kids -Tuesdays and Thursdays 3:00-5:30

All Junior High students- 3rd Tuesday of the month from 6:00-8:00 p.m

$15.00/a day

Please contact me for further information. Sign up today!

Location:Charlottetown Prince Edward Island

Telephone: 902-367-9491

Caramelized  Shallot And Roasted Pepper Linguine

About 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 to 3 cloves fresh garlic, thinly sliced

15-20 Shallots, cut into thin half-moon slices

Sea salt

Generous pinch red pepper flakes

2 Small fennel bulbs, tops trimmed, thinly sliced, reserving 2 to 3 tablespoons minced feathery tops

2 Red bell peppers, roasted over an open flame, peeled, seeded, sliced into thin ribbons

1 Cup plain soy milk

1 Tablespoon brown rice syrup

10 Ounces linguine

2 to 3 sprigs fresh flat-leaf  parsley, finely minced, for garnish

Place the oil, garlic and shallots in a deep skillet over medium heat. When the shallots begin to sizzle, add a pinch of salt and the red pepper flakes and saute until the shallots begin to brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in the fennel bulb and a pinch of salt and saute for 1 minute. Stir in the bell peppers, and season lightly with salt. Stir in the soy milk and rice syrup. Cover and reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 15 minutes.

While the sauce cooks, bring a pot of water to a boil and cook linguine al dente, about 10 minutes. Drain well, but do not rinse.

Mix the linguine into the sauce with the minced fennel tops and stir well to combine. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve garnished with parsley.

-This dish was delishious! I omitted the red pepper and it was still great!

Next week- Beans and Vegetables!

23-Spicy Moroccan chick peas

24-Lemon and ginger spiced aduki beans

25-Asian tofu salad with roasted peanuts

26-Fried tempeh with apricot mustard

27-Radish fennel and dandelion salad

28-Red onion pickle

All recipes are printed with permission from Christina Pirello

Fusilli Carbonara With Spring Vegetables

10 Ounces spiral pasta

2 Cups baby carrots, halved lengthwise

1 Bunch asparagus, tough ends snapped off and stalks cut into 1-inch lengths

1 Large zucchini, cut into long matchstick pieces

2 Cups plain soy milk

Sea salt

11/2 Tablespoons kuzu, dissolved in a small amount cold water

2/3 Cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained well, diced

3 to 4 Sprigs fresh flat -leaf parsley, finely minced

Fruity olive oil for drizzling

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook for 4 minutes. Add the baby carrots to the pasta and cook for 2 t0 3 minutes more. Add the asparagus and cook for 2 to 3 minutes more. Adjust the cooking of the vegetables to the texture of the pasta, which should be al dente. Just before draining the pasta, stir in the zucchini. Drain well, but do not rinse; return the pasta and vegetables to the pot over very low heat.

Warm the soy milk over low heat. Season lightly with salt. Stir in the dissolved kuzu, and cook, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 4 minutes.

Stir the sauce, sun-dried tomatoes and parsley into the pasta and vegetables, transfer to a serving bowl and serve with a drizzle of fruity olive oil.

- My Kids Can Cook group made this dish. It was our first sunny day this spring and we ate it outside.

This recipe is printed with permission from Christina Pirello