Archive for the ‘Food News’ Category

This Saturday is Food Revolution Day. Spearheaded by Jamie Oliver, this day is meant to get us thinking about the daily food choices we make and emphasizes the importance of having "real" food on our tables. Here in the Canadian Living Test Kitchen, we are firm believers in the healing powers of a home-cooked meal. Spending the better part of our days concocting delicious – and healthy – recipes for our readers, this cause is right up our alley!

Many fun events will be taking place worldwide on May 19, from small gatherings to large-scale, national events including cooking classes, dinners and fund-raisers. These events are a great way to bring awareness to food-related issues, share experiences and talk about how we can take better care of our bodies. Jamie Oliver himself will be hosting a virtual dinner party and chatting with viewers about his goals for the day. To read more about the cause, visit the Food Revolution Day website. And to check out a list of events taking place in Canada, take a look at the Food Bloggers of Canada website.

Mardi Michels, the cofounder of Food Bloggers of Canada and an ambassador for Toronto's Food Revolution Day, shared a few words of wisdom about what this day means to her:

"As an adult and an educator, I believe it's my responsibility to teach my students about real food so that they can face the adult world armed with the knowledge of basic cooking skills and healthy choices. Change does not have to be huge – in fact, this week at school, I encouraged the boys to all make sure they had at least ONE vegetable on their plates at lunch and I am proud to say most of them rose to the challenge!”

Will you be participating in any activities for Food Revolution Day this Saturday?

If you live in Vancouver, or will be there between June 1 and 3, you're in luck!

Canadian Living and some *ahem* handsome celebrity presenters will be on the main stage doing demonstrations at this year's EAT! Vancouver Food & Cooking Festival -- and you could win free tickets to see us live!

Food Specialist, Irene Fong, and I will be presenting recipes from our summer issues and giving loads of great tips for summer entertaining. Whether you're there for hands-on demonstrations, to taste delicious food and cocktails or just to catch a glimpse of the hottest Food Network stars, you'll find it all at the 10th annual EAT! Vancouver show.

Now, you clearly do not want to miss this show – but allow me to sweeten the pot, will you?

We have 4 family packs (4 tickets each) to give away to 4 lucky winners who plan to be in Vancouver for the festival. All you have to do is answer the following question in the comments below this post: what is your favourite idea for easy summer entertaining? This could be your favourite recipe, cocktail, snazzy idea, or easy entertaining shortcut tip. Our top 4 favourite comments will win a pack of four tickets. Isn't that easy?

This contest will run until Victoria Day (Monday, May 21) and we will contact the winners via email.

See you at the festival!

I'm afraid this is farewell.

With a heavy heart, I am leaving Canadian Living to join the team as senior editor of our brand new sister publication -- Juice -- launching in print and online in April. This is my last week as web food editor at Canadian Living.

I can barely describe the pleasure it has been to work for such a genuine magazine and a caring group of people. They took me on as a fledgling, ambitious intern 6 years ago and grew me into the editor I am today. This team has celebrated in all my life's joys, and supported me whenever the chips were down. I will always consider Canadian Living as my home base, and the Canadian Living team my family.

(I hope they'll still let me snack from the Test Kitchen..)

And a Valentine's thank-you giveaway to my readers!
I have also thoroughly enjoyed getting to know you, the readers of Canadian Living. It's through interaction with you that I understand how food and recipes online serve you best. As a thank-you, I have 2 wonderful, Valentine's-themed Metro gift baskets to give away!

Included in each basket is one of:

• Irresistibles Swiss Milk Chocolate
• Irresistibles Mocktails
• Irresistibles French Roast Cafe
• Irresistibles Maple Syrup
• Irresistibles Chocolate Pecan Clusters
• Irresistibles Scottish Shortbread
• Irresistibles Cheese Crackers

Start date: January 31, 2012
End date: Feb 3, 2012 at 9:00 am
Winners notified by email: Feb 3, 2012
What to do: Leave a comment in the Comments section below, and I'll pick 2 random winners on Friday morning.

Thank you again, staff and readers of Canadian Living, for sharing in the best 6 years of my life. Come find me on Juice in April.

xoxo,
Colleen

February 3 update: Two randomized winners have been notified via email. Check your inboxes!

Today I present a guest blog post by our fabulous CanadianLiving.com food intern Alexandra Ward. She took one for the team, visiting the Hockey Hall of Fame to sip wine and learn all about an exciting new venture in hockey and wine. Food journalism can be tough, I have to admit. Enjoy her report & exclusive event photos below.

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By Alexandra Ward

If there’s a more natural Canadian pairing than hockey and alcohol, I haven’t found it. Traditionally, the first drink that comes to mind when you think of hockey is -- beer. But as I learned last nigh at the Hockey Hall of Fame, the times are a-changing! Not to mention the palates of former NHL players.

Canadian hockey legend and former Toronto Maple Leaf, Johnny Bower, was on hand last night to help launch the new, exclusive Hockey Hall of Fame wines developed by Diamond Estates.

“At my age wine is terrific, more so than hockey,” he shared.

Wine lover and former Maple Leaf goalie, Johnny Bower

For those of you not raised as Leaf fans, Bower was the goalie in net the last time the Leafs won the Stanley Cup in 1967.

New! Hat Trick wines, made exclusively for the Hockey Hall of Fame

The NHL Alumni Association has paired with Diamond Estates to launch Hat Trick wines (seen in image above). Hat Trick Red is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Shiraz. Hat Trick White is a blend of Gewurztraminer, Riesling and Chardonnay-Muscat. Proceeds from the sale of each bottle go to the NHL Alumni Association to support various charitable causes and promote the game of hockey in Canada. Both are available now at the LCBO for just $12.95 per bottle, and will roll out across Canada in coming months.

Winemaker Tom Green from Diamond Estates

Winemakers Tom Green and Scott McGregor recommend pairing the white with salads and light chicken meals -- avoiding heavy cream-based sauces. When enjoying the red, they suggest sticking with barbecue and burgers.

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Thanks Alex! Are you more inclined to buy a bottle of wine if proceeds go to charity, or do you buy for value?

January weather has a way of making me feel uninspired in the kitchen, and everywhere else in my life. To brighten things up, I'm sharing some great dishes I enjoyed in Puerto Vallarta, a small fishing town and huge Canadian tourist destination on the west coast of Mexico.

Mexico is dear to my heart as I was married near Cancun, and Puerto Vallarta is no exception. It's a magical place filled with friendly people, exceptional food, beautiful art and breathtaking scenery.

If you find yourself in Puerto Vallarta, or just need to dream a little, here are some places I recommend:

The Villa Premiere Hotel & Spa
This lovely spa hotel is on the northern part of town. Nothing says dinner like a fantastic serenade from a local mariachi band:

A serenade at the Villa Premiere Hotel

Enjoy a bowl of tri-colour squash soup. Mexicans know a thing or two about turning the humble squash into a work of art:

Tricolour squash soup at the Villa Premiere

The El Dorado Restaurant & Bar, Los Muertos Beach
Soak in the ocean air as you dine on dishes by acclaimed local food advocate and owner Chef Guillermo Wulff:

Pulled pork meets local shrimp meets fresh avocado on mini baked tostadas. Everything is possible in Puerto Vallarta:

Beachside tastes better: Pulled pork, shrimp, avocado & tomato tostadas

Las Caletas
Take a day trip out to Las Caletas, a small island full of unbelievable creatures:

See the symbiotic wee fish on the left living in the folds of this jellyfish

And lunch on Mexican fare, including traditional Mexican hot chocolate served in a giant warm clay vessel after swimming around the ocean with the fishes.

Sip Mexican hot chocolate done the traditional way in a clay pot after a day of snorkling at Las Caletas

Le Kliff
It's worth the short drive south to Le Kliff, a restaurant built into the side of a cliff that overlooks the rainforest and the ocean. Fun fact: Across the road is where they filmed the movie, Predator. (awesome!)

Peer into the lush rainforest from the edge of a cliff, at Le Kliff

Watch the sunset from your perch at Le Kliff.

Ceviche caught that morning served in a coconut is my kind of appetizer:

Enjoy tropical ceviche from locally-caught seafood at Le Kliff

Tequila Corner
Go for a tequila tasting at Tequila Corner, a small tequila shop in the heart of Puerto Vallarta's Art district. Here you'll find high-end tequilas not available anywhere else in the world, and great staff willing to teach you all you ever wanted to know.

We discovered the difference between silver, gold and "white" tequilas.

El Arrayon
You can't leave Puerto Vallarta without going to El Arrayan, a small restaurant working hard to retain and reintroduce traditional Mexican foods. Check out the menu here. Expand your horizons with a cricket taco, or 'Chapulines'! Crickets are closely related to shrimp. It was crunchy with smokey, almost shrimpy flavour. Tequila helped, I have to admit.

Expand your horizons with a traditional cricket taco at El Arrayan, post-tequila is recommended

And for dessert, baked squash so caramelized and gooey one would swear it was packed with dairy:

Polish it all off with a gooey traditional dessert: baked squash.

My hosts told me you would have to stay in Puerto Vallarta for over a month before you started repeating restaurants. It was a culinary dream and a delight to visit.

What are some of your favourite Mexican foods? Would you eat a cricket taco?

Every month I send out a food trends press release based on what readers like you are searching for - and not searching for - on CanadianLiving.com. With a sample base of nearly 2 million Canadian visitors to our website every month, these reports are a great reflection of what's being served on Canadian tables!

It's always fun to see the year in review, so I've compiled the Canadian Craving of the Month over the past 11 months, to give you the Top 11 Food Trends of 2011:

January 2011
Canadian Craving of the Month: Soup recipes - 760% increase over 2010
Jan 2011 analysis: "Diet-friendly and budget-friendly soup is the choice du jour for Canadians on this belt-tightening new year"
Image above: Hearty Tomato, Sausage and Bean Soup

February 2011
Canadian Craving of the Month: Quinoa - increased by 153% over 2010
Feb 2011 analysis: "This jump in quinoa requests shows home cooks are comfortable with this good-for-you grain this year and experimenting with new recipes. Quinoa and Chickpea Salad was also Canadian Living's March 2011 cover recipe, which may have fuelled the fire this month."
Image above: Quinoa and Chickpea Salad with Tomato Vinaigrette

March 2011
Canadian Craving of the Month: Quinoa - increased by 311% over 2010
March 2011 analysis: "Another quantum leap for quinoa this month. The only grain that doubles as a complete protein, the quinoa bump might also be related to a sharp rise in veganism in 2011, thanks in part to mega celebrity Oprah Winfrey and her 1-week vegan challenge earlier this year."
Image above: Tricolour Quinoa


April 2011
Canadian Craving of the Month: Cheesecake -increased 123% over 2010
April 2011 analysis: "While cheesecake is a popular year-round dessert, it makes a sunny end to spring dinners and especially Easter-themed feasts."
Image above: Wildflower Honey Cheesecake with Blueberry Compote

May 2011
Canadian Craving of the Month: Hamburger - up 20% over 2010
May 2011 analysis: "Apart from the die-hards who barbecue year-round, the month of May signals it's time to tune up the barbecues for another season. And the most popular thing on the grill? Hamburgers"
Image above: Blue Cheese-Stuffed Bacon Burgers

June 2011
Canadian Craving of the Month: Cheesecake - up 56% over 2010
June 2011 analysis: "Also the Canadian Craving back in April, rich, satisfying cheesecake is enjoying a delicious surge in popularity this year. Can you guess who's eating the most? The highest search volume comes out of Prince Edward Island!"
Image above: Cheesecake Pie with Rhubarb Sauce

July 2011
Canadian Craving of the Month: Chicken breasts - up 135% over 2010
July 2011 anlaysis: "While the top 10 this July remained fairly level with last year - burgers, salmon, salsa, etc. - chicken breasts leaped 135% to the 12th position, illustrating a huge revival in this lean, barbecue-friendly and flavour-neutral cut of meat. This trend suggests we'll see chicken breasts easily reach top 10 in August."
Image above: Italian-Style Chicken Breasts

August 2011
Canadian Craving of the Month: Salsa -  up 76% over 2010
August 2011 analysis: "Aside from all things salsa being local and in-season right now - tomatoes, peppers, onions and herbs - salsa is one of the easiest and most versatile home canning projects to take on. Whether you're a novice cook or professional chef, making salsa appeals to everyone."
Image above: Tomatillo Salsa

September 2011
Canadian Craving of the Month: Chicken breasts - up 336% over 2010
Analysis Sept 2011: "Wow! There’s the power of a sale. Major grocery chains across Canada had deals on boneless chicken breasts in September, translating into thousands of home cooks searching CanadianLiving.com for our Tested-Till-Perfect chicken breast recipes."
Image above: Chicken, Peach and Spinach Salad

October 2011
Canadian Craving of the Month: Slow cooker - up 855% over 2010
October 2011 analysis: "Slow cookers are becoming as essential as toasters in Canadian kitchens, and CanadianLiving.com has hundreds of Tested-Till-Perfect slow cooker recipes to choose from. We’re not surprised to see this as Canada’s craving of the month, and expect to see the numbers grow steadily as snowy weather creeps upon us."
Image above: Slow Cooker Spinach Ravioli Soup

November 2011
Canadian Craving of the Month: Chicken breasts - up 186% over 2010
Nov 2011 analysis: "Further analysis reveals we’re craving stuffed chicken breasts: pounded and baked chicken wrapped around cheeses, veggies and meats like prosciutto and ham. Tasty, elegant, and so easy to do!"
Image above: Leek and Cheese Chicken Breasts

2011 was the year of quinoa, chicken and cheesecake. Sounds like a meal to me. What was your biggest craving of 2011?

Stay tuned for December 2011's Food Trends press release on January 4, 2012!

Iron Chef Cat Cora, and me

Back in October, I met the inspiring Cat Cora for her launch of Cat Cora cookware by Starfrit, available exculsively at Walmart stores across Canada. Cora is a stickler for eco-friendliness, and ensures a charitable element is a part of each product. If you need last-minute gifts for the picky foodie on your list, here are two I think are great:

Maple Wood Butcher Block, $69.94
This block is made from 100% Canadian maple recycled flooring pieces, and assembled in a small Quebec factory that employs 200 developmentally delayed adults who wouldn't otherwise have means. This board sits above the counter and can breathe, so it won't get moldy underneath.

Hard Anodized Fry Pan, $25
Her frying pans are hard anodized, meaning they are stick-resistant without the toxic spray coating that eventually wears off into your food. And notice the long handle - it keeps hands away from the heat and also slim enough for people with smaller hands. "I'm smaller, y'know," Cora explains in her Southern accent. "But I can pick this long handle up with two hands. I usually need to do that with a stir-fry."

And, of course I took this opportunity to bend Cat Cora's ear on how the rest of us can develop cooking skills like hers.

Q. How do you develop a palate like a chef?
Cat Cora: Pick one thing you're really good at, and experiment with it. The best thing to use is a roasted chicken - that's what they make young chefs do in culinary school because it's easy and forgiving. Experiment with seasonings like curry, fennel, citrus - mix it up! Then you'll build up your senses, your brain, your nose and your palate. You figure out what you like, what you react to, and what you absolutely love.

And the younger you start developing your palate, the better. Get your kids eating herbs and spices so they'll have great palates when they're adults, but it's never too late to start. Like I said, practice on the chicken.

Q. What are some Iron Chef tips you can give to amateur home cooks hoping to enter a competition?
Cat Cora: Just tune everything else out. If you don't know what to do, put your head down into your food and just start prepping something. And taste as you go along! The bottom line is it doesn't matter how pretty your dish looks if the taste is off. -- young chefs always make that big mistake. Don't worry about making it pretty and then trying to find the taste later, if you do that you'll fail miserably!

Q. What's happening now in your charity, Chefs for Humanity?
Cat Cora: We just donated $150,000 to the United Nations World Food Program for their SAFE stoves initiative that benefits women. Most developing nations have open fires in their places of residence with no ventilation -- a major health hazard for women. Also, women and girls are the foragers of the world. They are the ones to collect firewood, but unfortunately that's when a lot of sexual assault happens. We try to avoid this with SAFE stoves, they work independently of firewood. My charity started SAFE stoves in Haiti and we'll move on to other places.

Q. Our Facebook fans wanted to know -- what's in Cat Cora's turkey stuffing?
Cat Cora: [laughs] We do caramelized mushrooms, lots of fresh rosemary and oregano, garlic, and good bread that we dice up into big bite-sized pieces. I don't like my stuffing mushy, I like pieces I can bite into. I make homemade cranberry sauce that I like putting on top of my turkey stuffing, too.

I also like to take the stuffing out of the turkey and brown it a little so it gets crispy on top. Just a few minutes on 400˚F to 450˚F.

What's in your turkey stuffing? Is it like Cat Cora's, or different?

Image by net_efekt's via Flickr

This January, I'm putting myself on a diet: A food waste diet.

If I stacked up all the convenience and takeaway food packages I used, meal ends that were thrown out, and unused produce that went bad in my fridge over the last year, I would be filled with shame at my thoughtlessness.

Between withrawing from the Kyoto Protocol and international criticism about our oil sands, the world is starting to think Canadians just don't care about the environment any more.

Well I still do, and the best way to make a huge reduction in your carbon footprint is to reduce household waste created by food. According to a 2009 Statistics Canada report:

In 2007, an estimated 38% of solid food available for retail sale was wasted, the equivalent of 183 kilograms per person.

That's 403 pounds of food wasted, per person, per year, in Canada.

Things that weigh 400 pounds: a female grizzly bear; a Welsh pony; an Orca whale. Put 35 million of these animals into a pile, and there's our waste for the year.

My easy food waste diet plan:
1. Bring leftovers for lunch
Not only will I avoid eating a second helping at night and risk throwing the rest of that dinner out, I will also avoid takeaway container waste the next day. Portion control meets food waste conscientiousness. This one is the silver bullet.

2. Turn vegetable bits into stock
Carrot peelings, leek ends, mushroom stems and cabbage cores can all have a second life in my slow cooker, transformed into vegetable stock.  And thanks to fellow blogger and our food director Annabelle Waugh, I know how to freeze stock into ice cube trays for easy use, any time.

3. Grocery shop with a plan
Having a menu plan in mind when hitting the grocery store means buying what you'll actually use, and not buying what you think you'll use. I can' t count how many times I've purchased a knobbly celeriac root with full intention to use it, and never have. I'll use our weekly Dinner Club recipes, which are also available on mobile so I can access them at the store.

Now this is a diet I feel really good about, finally!

Do you transport your lunches in Tupperware, Corningware, glass jars, metal containers or something else? I could use some advice on the best way to bring my dinners.

In researching for this blog post, I came across UK-based Love Food Hate Waste, whose interactive website has tons more tips for keeping food waste to a minimum.

Last January, I was lucky enough to be in Vancouver during their famous Dine Out Vancouver restaurant festival. One word: yum.

The 2012 festival (this coming year is the 10th!) will take place over 17 days from Monday, January 20 to Sunday, February 5. Reservations open January 9.

If you're anywhere near the Vancouver area (or plan to be), get yourself to this festival. Last year's highlights — for me — were about the street food. For example, trying several different interesting hotdogs from Japadog, (made famous during the Vancouver 2010 winter Olympics):

From front to back: the terimayo, the yakisoba and the okinomi - all fantastic!

... and eating The Re-Up Addictive BBQ's giant pulled pork sandwich, laden with tangy, creamy coleslaw:

I know what "re-up" means from watching HBO's, The Wire. So, basically, what I'm saying is that I'm very hip.

What's even more exciting for street food lovers like me is that this year, the festival will include something called Street Food City – a 3-day-long lunchtime event featuring the city’s top food carts.

But even if street food isn't your thing, this is the country's largest restaurant festival, people! It has over 225 participating restaurants. So you're bound to find something that tickles your fancy.

For more info, check out Tourism Vancouver's website.

It's hard to beat the food in Vancouver, but this country has so much to offer. Where is YOUR favourite place in Canada to dine out?

Dec 16th Update: Congrats to winner Sarah from Amherstview, ON. Her story illustrates great food, family togetherness, and sibling mischievousness that all combine to make the holidays so special and memorable:

"My favorite holiday treat was all the homemade goodies my mother worked for weeks to prepare for our large family.  My mother made it well in advance and we were forbidden to touch it until Christas Eve.  One year mom and dad went out to some last minute shopping and we all decided to take all of the baking move it into different containers and put the empty storage tins back in their hiding place.  On Christmas Eve, we had all but forgotten what we had done until we heard my mother yell all six of our names to come to the living room.  She was sitting on the floor surrounded by empty containers in shock.  We quickly retrieved the baked goods and still tease her about the year we pulled the best practical joke ever."

A huge thanks to all 1,125 of you who shared your stories. Reading them made me tear up several times - how deeply we miss our mothers and grandmothers at this time of year. Happy holidays, everyone.

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When I received the following enormous box of President's Choice holiday treats in the mail last week, all I could think of was how excited I would have been as a kid to receive this:

What could possibly be in here? . . .

**delighted gasp!**

Chips! Pretzels! Crackers! Chocolates! Cookie mix! This package also includes a $50 Loblaw gift card for you, Mom or Dad. With all the entertaining and food shopping I know our readers are doing this time of year, I thought one of you would be thrilled to receive this as a fun prize to share with your family.

How to WIN this giant box of PC holiday goodies and a $50 Loblaw gift card:
In the Comments section below tell me what your most cherished holiday food is, and why. Is it the dinner rolls you used to make with your grandmother? Is it your mom's shortbread cookies you and your brother used to steal out of the freezer? Is it the popcorn you and your dad used to eat and string with cranberries for the tree? (all of these are my personal true stories!)

Start date: December 8, 2011
End date: December 15, 2011
Winner notified by email: December 15, 2011

Dig out those holiday food magic memories, and tell me below for your chance to win!

Dec 15th Update: The comments are now closed. I am now reading your stories to find a winner.
2nd update: I've chosen a winner. Check your inboxes, I'll have to choose another winner at 9am tomorrow to ship the prize in time for Christmas.