Colourburst Comfort Holiday Dinner Menu

Holiday dinner is tomorrow night. Menu is going to be:

Crudites with a Creamy Ranch-Style Dip and a Dijon Cilantro Lemon Dip

Avocado Crisps topped with a mandarin orange segment and lime salt

Butternut Squash Soup garnished with Sage, Pear and Pecans

Stuffed Portobello Mushroom Cap with "Cheesy" Garlic Mashed Yukon Gold Potatoes and Mushroom Red Wine Reduction, served with Steamed Broccolini and Lemon

Icewine-poached Pears with Orange Honey drizzle, and Sugared Walnuts.

The dip will get its creaminess from cashew cream and vegenaise, with chives, garlic, carrot, celery and shallots for flavour.

I'm going to marinate the portobello in garlic and steak spice, stuffed with my quite traditional sweet-potato bread stuffing, and topped with panko bread crumbs - baked until the top is crisp.

I made the stuffing puree yesterday by sauteeing chopped carrots, onions, celery and garlic in some olive oil. I boiled the sweet potatoes and mashed them, then used the leftover sweet potato water to steep about a cup of red lentils. I love that "chicken-y" smell and rich taste. Mixed everything together and I'll add it to some cubed toasted bread, mound it on top like a snowball and then pack the panko on top of that.

I'm going to make a "creamy" mushroom red wine reduction to go over top. Garnish will be slivers of green onion.

This entire dinner contains more than 15 different types of fruits and vegetables, beans, three kinds of nuts, and relies on plant based fats like avocado, cashew cream and olive oil for richness. It will be vibrant and colourful, will match well with Champagne to start (pairing with the richness of the dips and avocado)a rich Chardonnay for the soup, and then a BIG Red for the main. Dessert will be spectacular with a beautiful Niagara Icewine, which we can afford because of how inexpensive the rest of the menu will be.

Four Corners Meal vs. Holiday Superfood Entertaining

Tonight was a "four corners" night. Once every few weeks, I have just had enough shopping, eating out, and planning. There are times when it seems like there is "nothing in the fridge" and yet, I don't have the energy go shop, or order in.

Four Corners Dinners are those that I can pull together with the ingredients from the four corners of my fridge, my freezer and my pantry - as well as the back corners of my mind.

Tonight was a whirlwind tour of Asia, Thailand, Italy, New Orleans and just Canadian Sunday dinner. A combination of veggies, leftover cans of coconut milk, and a tomato, and half a head of garlic, some peanut butter, some soup stock - everything but the partridge in a pear tree. Speaking of which...

Holiday entertaining is HERE and aren't we all stressing just a little over some of our rituals we all claim to "love" about the holidays? Family dinners? Entertaining friends? Eating at the once-a-year holiday party with the people we work with? And what's often on the menu is really H E A V Y fare.

I am stressing about doing a dinner party next Sunday for friends. I want to make the dinner completely satisfying and delectable, and for it also to be one of the healthiest meals of the month. I also have to (always) resist against my own temptation to push myself to overdoing it, and remember the point of all this visiting is to actually visit.

I love a beautiful sparkling wine to greet guests with when opening a party. Nothing says "celebrate" like it! What is classic with champagne are gougieres, cheesy puff pastry bites that are just so rich, that they cut through the acidity of the champagne. Not so much healthy... but maybe I can find something with a similarly gorgeous richness?

Avocados are a gorgeous, buttery alternative to any rich mouthful, and would probably be great on a miltigrain cracker with a sliver of orange on top, and sprinkled with lime salt on top of that.

Crisp things at a party can not be beaten, but instead of something deep fried, what about a great platter of properly prepared crudites? The trick for things like asparagus, broccoli and cauliflower is to blanch them first. Then they get an explotive green colour, and some of the raw bitterness is edged out.

Bowl of Ice Water standing by. Salted boiling water. Drop veggies in for 30 seconds. Scoop out with a slotted spoon and plunge into ice water. Done.

SKIP the ranch dressing and get creative!

Olive oil, dijon mustard and lemon juice is a gorgeous combo.

What about soy sauce, hot sauce, toasted sesame oil?

Coconut milk, curry, peanut?

Honey, grainy mustard, garlic?

Imagine the last holiday dinner you sat down to where you weren't already feeling guilty before you started dinner?

A heartwarming soup is a spectacular starting course when first sitting down. Soups are great because they can be made well ahead of time and just reheated. If you make two complimentary soups, and pour them into two gravy boats, you can pour them into each bowl simultaneously for a beautiful colour contrast. Don't underestimate garnishes on soups... some chopped green onion, a drizzle of olive oil, some fennel fronds, or a crisp crouton can elevate any soup to a restaurant style presentation.

Bill's been asking for some root veggies lately - sweet potatoes, carrots, yams, turnips. Underneath my main course I want to try for something like a potato gratin, without the cream and cheese. I love a great sauteed spinach with garlic, and will borrow a presentation style from my beloved Teka, and add long thin swirls of carrot for colour.

I can't help but lean on a portobello when looking to replicate that satiating feeling of meat. I did a cauliflower steak that was absolutely gorgeous last week, and can probably just as easily crisp that panko coating onto a portobello. With a rich mushroom gravy, it could really have that wow factor.

What if I sandwich two portobellos with something in the middle? Roasted garlic is great with 'shrooms.. I need to get a grip, because I'm already getting carried away here.

What if I use the smooth mushy roasted garlic to coat the portobello, and for the steak-spiced panko to stick to that? It would be delicious, crisp outside, and tender inside.

The meal would easily stand up to a rich red wine, with a bit reduced into the sauce for flavor.

Dessert is going to be easy. Fresh fruit from everywhere is worth the splurge. Pick a theme. Berries? Tropical Fruits? Poached pears are classic right now. A cascade of colours, with a beautiful icewine?

Test menu can happen as early as tomorrow, photos to follow.

Holiday Time and Budget Accellerator (for Cathy)

It is getting BUSY through the holidays... Everyone is beginning to sc-HURRY through their day, and there never seem to be enough hours to do what we need to do. Cathy asked for some recipes that were easy and healthy so here are a few quick ideas which go a LONG way during a busy week... You can add some time to your meal prep, and some cash back in your wallet for presents:)

My Favourite Pizza Dough
Grab a BIG BOWL and add 1 and 1/3 warm water. Add 2 tablespoons instant yeast (use a measuring spoon, because regular spoons are often not the right measure and you do want your dough to rise with the yeast...). Dissolve the yeast and watch it get cloudy. Add 1 tablespoon of salt.

Add 2 1/2 cups of flour. We use an organic whole wheat flour. Throw the dough onto a large cutting board or a CLEAN countertop. (ie: if you wash the countertop, you should also wipe it with plain water so you're not adding soap to your dough)...

Knead the dough for 5 minutes. This is the best part because you really feel like you are doing something healthy, and traditional for your family. I like to push down with the heel of my hand forward (like a smearing motion) and then pull it back with my fingers, and curl it slightly to smear a different part of the dough the next time. Don't skip the kneading, because it helps for a smooth, developed dough.

Add some olive oil to the bowl and swish it around. Put a clean tea towel over the bowl, and let it rest in your microwave (dark, warm) for 30 minutes while you get toppings ready.

Top your pizza with whatever is in your fridge. Sky's the limit on what a good pizza dough can become - it is like a blank canvas.

It's easier than you think to skip the animal products, even if cheese and pepperoni are the first things that come to your mind.

Try these variations offering a rainbow of colours...

Puttanesca: Sauce, olives, capers, tomatoes, garlic?

Bruschetta: Sauce, Tomatoes, Red Onion, garlic, add salted-cold-chopped tomatoes, garlic and olive oil on top with fresh basil.

Mushroom: Olive oil or sauce or dijon mustard and a chopped mix of mushrooms, and some balsamic vinegar

Sweet or Hot Peppers: Sauce, and Yellow, Red, Orange, Green - there are even chocolate brown peppers!

Thai / Asian Green: Broccoli, Broccolini, Asparagus, Zucchini, even snow peas are awesome if you change the pizza sauce to a peanut sauce! (Mix some peanut butter, soy sauce, hot sauce, and sesame oil in a jar and shake) Spectacular! Garnish with toasted sesame seeds.

Indian / Tandoori Red: Cauliflower and chick peas are surprisingly delicious on pizza. They also feel very substantial. Grab some store-bought indian sauces, and sprinkle some cashews on top.

Purple Pizza Eater: Eggplant (especialy when roasted) is gorgeous. Grab some store-bought baba ganouj, top with eggplant and garlic. Or some roasted radicchio (put in a pan with some olive oil, salt and balsamic vinegar) adds a sweet, bitter flavour that is delicious.

Honey Yellow: Add some roasted butternut squash and fresh sage leaves, drizzle with olive oil. Top with toasted, honeyed pecans.

ROASTING FALL VEGETABLES

At this time of year, roasting squash and root vegetables can be like having an extra friend in the kitchen.

Get familiar with the easy technique, because you can make one vegetable into three different meals. One as a side dish, one as a pizza topper, and blend the leftovers into a soup.

Cut up what you are roasting (Squash, Carrots, Parsnips, Beets, Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes, etc..) into bite size pieces. Put them on a cookie sheet (I like alumninum foil for easier clean-up). Drizzle the bites with olive oil and lightly salt and pepper them. Toss together so they all get coated. Roast at 375, shake every so often, until they slowly start to brown, probably 1 hour.

Bayley's Carrot Soup

Always make more veggies than you need for one meal. Leftovers can top pizza, and become a nice soup. Adding soup stock to any vegetable in a blender and hitting the liquefy button can result in a tasty and easy and delicious soup.

Once at a family dinner I watched in horror as Jill almost tossed the last few carrots and mashed potatoes into the garbage, after a family feast. I grabbed her blender, added a can of stock, the potatoes and the carrots and some salt to taste. Her son, Bayley, thought it was the best soup and ate two bowls of it the next day!

Cauliflower Steak and final lessons learned...

On the last day of our 30 day challenge, I wanted to put together a specacular meal for the guys. Two of the cookbooks I have been loving, Tal Ronnen's "The Conscious Cook" and Alicia Silverstone's "The Kind Diet" both had some truly inspirational ideas, as well as great recipes. Both had a caesar salad that sounded creamy, and satisfying. When made from my own mix of olive oil, garlic, lemon, capers, dijon and Vegenaise (as well as the addition of my new "nutritional yeast" which smells like the bottom of a hamster cage, but tasted great)we were blown away. With some toasted croutons, it was absolutely delicious.

We also tried a delicious Rice parmesan cheese, which I was initially impressed with, but since its main ingredient is CASEIN (the offending dairy protein linked to cancer) it won't be invited back. I can't believe I missed that in the grocery store - usually I read the ingredients pretty well.

Dinner was a feast for the eyes too, with steamed purple asparagus, bright green steamed broccolini, and a rich mushroom gravy over top of a caulifower "steak". Cauliflower, when sliced from the top down, and right through the stem, holds onto the florets, creating a hefty steak. Brushed with some olive oil and steak spice on both sides and dipped in panko, it was a crispy crunchy delicious centrepiece on the plate, reminiscent of a fried chicken!

Harrison artfully put together the dessert plate, with berries, rice ice cream, and pecans, with a raspberry sauce from the summer's jams. Yum.

Do you remember the cute little chihuahua from that disney cartoon about the dogs and cats in the 20's where he exclaims in his Mexican accent after being "captured" and then finding out he's in the lap of luxury, "if this is torture, chain me to the wall!"

Its kind of true in our case. We embarked on this challenge towards a healthy way of eating almost as a joke. Bill liked the health aspects, I loved the cooking challenge and we both liked the idea of cutting out fattier things on our plates and replacing them with vegetables. Neither of us had any idea how GOOD eating like this would make us feel, and retrospectively, how good it was for our health to learn to do so. I love the budget aspect to plant-based eating, I LOVE that the food safety concerns (again, spiders notwithstanding) are so minimal, and I especially love the slimming effect it has had on all of us.

People often heard of our challenge, and with a sympathetic look on their faces asked with great concern "How is Harrison handling it?". Ask him. He didn't miss a beat, loved many of the items on his plate (evidenced by his full consumption of them, and often seconds) and even learned a bit.

His school project came home yesterday, where the students had to write a menu for a restaurant of their own. His was called "Healthy Harrison's" and had a full breakfast menu of pancakes "wisked together", breakfast smoothies "strawbearrys and rasberrys bleanded into a creamy smoothie", and a fruit platter that even contained zucchini(!) "cut up in rows and served on a plater". His restaurant's motto was "its good and nutricios and also delicios".

Kids will eat healthily if we give them the chance to. So will adults. Perhaps most startling throughout the challenge is how toxic our food environment is in North America. How surrounded we are as busy people with horribly bad "food-like" food that does nothing but provide a short-term fat-sugar rush, and make us sick. Yes, meat is delicious, but even the low fat stuff (especially since we are now eating MORE of it) still clogs our arteries, slows our digestion, and the significant body of evidence shows that it can accellerate a trip to heart disease (and its precursors of obesity, high blood pressure and high blood cholesterol), cancers especially of the breast and prostate, auto-immune diseases like diabetes, and general ill health.

When I was a kid, my dad was forced to quit smoking. I had learned that smoking was bad, and would often go on a hunt to find the packs, and flush them down the toilet. Dad often had to hide out, and sneak them. As he tells the story, one day he was quietly smoking in a locked bathroom, realized he was "hiding out from a 5 year old" and decided it was time to quit. He quit, but his dad (my Jaju)didn't - although his smokes offen suffered the same floaty fate if I could find them. When he died of lung cancer in 1989, I was impossibly saddened. Even a 79 year old wants more time, and more QUALITY time at that. We don't want to spend our lives, especially any part of the end our lives, sick, medicated and yucky.

Let me leave off my preachyness with one last analogy... If before every meal, someone routinely sprayed your meals with a spritz of something known to increase disease in people, but assured you that nothing would really happen right now, and the bad effects would just be some undetermined "LATER" would you keep letting them? Wouldn't you say "no, wait a second, I don't want that!"?

Hold in mind that the messages you receive about your health, and often what we THINK we know about nutrition, IS ACTUALLY A COMMERCIAL! A marketing message from the seller!

Hold in mind WHO is marketing the 3 servings of dairy a day message.
Hold in mind WHO is marketing the salmon / chicken / pork / beef messages.
Hold in mind WHO is marketing the get cracking messages.

Don't take my word for it. Do yourself and your kids a favour and do some reading. We loved "The China Study" by T. Colin Campbell. I loved Dean Ornish's book 15 years ago on learning of my father-in-law's problems with heart disease (Ornish's theory of reversing it by eating a plant-based diet was quickly dismissed by that side of the family).

My friend Chris says that he gets the vegan thing, but that it's probably just too hard for most people. I think he's right. My friend Cathy echoed the thought, but was intrigued enough to say that she would be motivated to try if she just had a few recipes to work from. My friend Barb didn't miss a beat when at our most recent lunch our pizza came without the cheese. Angela and Carissa both tried the vegan mozzarella, declaring it "good". Greg and Scott (avid meat lovers) ate the tofu chicken strips without complaint. Mom has agreed to skip the cheese when we all make perogies on Saturday for Christmas.... Even my dad has been persuaded to utter "OK - I'LL EAT MORE VEGETABLES if you'll just leave me alone!" when prompted...

So. Enough lectures from me.

Blog, going forward will go back to its original intended purpose....efficient and healthy ideas about food!

EASY CHANGES

Everyone's been quite complimentary lately on the more obvious effects of eating plant based food, as opposed to animal based food. But when you tell someone it's due to a vegan diet, they tend to clam up, exclaim "I could NEVER do that" and run away. Bill and I are beginning to dislike the "vegan" term, because everyone expects us to be running out, granola in hand, to hug a tree...and yet we don't feel any more hippie than we were when we started - just healthier.

So:

Here's a top 10 list of the changes I would consider effortless, if you wanted to stop consuming as much animal protein as you currently do.

1. Switch to Almond Milk in coffee and cereal. Soy and Rice have a pungency that I dislike. Almond milk is sweet and smooth, and tasteless but is so much like milk that Harrison and I prefer it now.

2. Vegan Mozzarella. I can not believe cheese made the list, because it was what I feared most in giving up. There are a number of brands (and the nacho flavour is brutally bad) but the mozzarella has welcomed pizza back in the house!

3. Earth Balance instead of butter. This palm, canola and olive oil based substitute for butter is a simple switch for dairy butter.

4. PC Breaded "chicken" Strips . I avoided the meat based one like the plague for years. Ditto for chicken strips. These are FABULOUS and a perfect vehicle for hot sauce, BBQ or honey garlic yumminess. Kids and fussy adults alike can't tell the difference.

5. Skip the meat in the chili, and no cheddar on top.

6. Skip the meat in a whole wheat pasta dish. Pasta is comforting, usually tomato coated, can be packed with delicious flavour, and any veggies you like can be pureed into the sauce with NO reprecussions, because no one can tell.

7. Cashew cream. Tal Ronnen is a genius for bringing this creamy substitute to the world in his book "The Conscious Cook". Raw cashews, soaked overnight and then pureed until smooth make creamy soups and risottos a possibility again.

8. Lentils (when they are cooking) literally smell like chicken soup, and add that "home"y smell to the kitchen.

9. I recently subbed in two onion rings instead of chicken breast on my formerly favourite cajun chicken sandwich at Rock Bottom, our lunch hangout. Yes, they were fried, but the bun was whole wheat, and the lettuce, tomato and side salad made it feel decadent, even without the mammaries of a dead bird. I have little trouble asking for special orders at restaurants (right Vesna? :)?

10. Soy Ice Cream!!! There are some absolutely fabulous products in the supermarket depending on the flavours you like, but it is VERY HARD to not love the chocolate and peanut butter combinations when you feel like a splurge.

Aside from the decadent options listed here, it can not be stressed enough how eliminating animal products from the plate literally ensures you are going to get veggies. The colours, textures and flavours we are eating in the last 27 days trump any animal-based food - seriously, really, no kidding. It just broadens your palate, and the colours are so pleasing! You feel efficient in the use of energy, with no crashes of energy, and no spikes in cravings.

Going Forward (after the HEARTbreak...)

Given that this is the 26th day of our challenge, it has been quite natural to consider where we will go from here. I do not plan on adding dairy, eggs and especially meat back into my diet, and that presents me with a number of challenges.

The blog has been helpful, and illustrative since it is really a snapshot of a meat-eater's transition to a plant-based diet. Sunday was impossibly funky, because it was really hitting me that there are things I will not be eating again, and ways of cooking I will not be mastering again. I had to avoid food TV for a while, too.

Sunday felt like a breakup day. I considered all the things that I have to move on, from. I love food, and now some of it is necessarily being left behind. I know it's not good for me, I see a better life without it, and I craved some closure, but the memories were still too fresh. My pantry and fridge look just a bit different now, but it's obvious in the fridge that something is GONE. Anytime we face up to choose what is good for us (and especially to unchoose what is worst for us), it can be hard. The new relationship is so much healthier for me, and it does highlight the devilish stuff quite obviously.

I am glad I went through my Julia Child months, learning to make the best beef bourgignon, and the most incredible egg and hollandaise dishes. I find it completely amusing today that the one "video" clip I was able to master that made its way to the blog is a roast chicken! My top 39 list, created just a month ago before my birthday, has more items that I can continue to enjoy than it did items which will be left in the grocery stores permanently. But re-reading it does illustrate my passion for food, the good stuff, and a commitment to delicious, efficient and healthy food.

So rather than cry about it (would you laugh if I told you I did?) I'm just going to keep going, one hopeful day at a time.

The view from the other side of the plate...

These last few days have been really hard. Lots of "tests"...Turns out is is hard to not eat a North American Diet when one lives in north america:)

Hockey party with the guys at the fave bar was impossible to navigate without meat or cheese. And it was really tempting. All those fried smells, and "tasty" bites kept passing us on platters, and the veggie tray was way at the other end of the table. I just kept repeating the same mantra in my head... "my wine is vegan, my wine is vegan..." Having said that, we did plop a bunch of veggie chicken strips in the oven when we got home, dipped them in my favourite earth balance, hot sauce and dijon, and dove in. YUM, but it was a crisis narrowly averted only because we were being strong. If we were "out" with our challenge, we probably would have ordered a bin of nachos and salsa, or sweet potato fries but in this situation it would have drawn more attention than it would have been worth... so we sipped our drinks, and made up for it later that evening in rewards.

Breakfast nook. We have a great little place for breakfast where we go when Sunday morning breakfast just feels like too many dishes... I was really stressed there too. Not just "oh, I'd like an egg..." but seriously stressed. Bill had oatmeal, and I had hash browns with some spinach, tomato, mushroom and onion mixed in. It was hard to navigate this menu too - so I just asked the waitress to take the vegetable additions to omlettes, and leave the eggs out. Again, I was strong in resisting, but it was not the easy thing to do by a long shot.

Yesterday evening, Morton's (american) steakhouse for a seriously celebratory birthday party. Checked out the online menu beforehand - they have a beautiful tuna tartare which comes in a gorgeous stacked mold presentation. Asked them to sub chopped asparagus for the tuna, and prep it the same way. It was beautiful and delicious. Chopped salad minus bacon minus blue cheese minus egg was pretty good too, with a honey mustard vinagrette, hearts of palm, artichokes and avocados. Dinner was the funniest of all - just a head of broccoli and some grilled asparagus with a balsamic glaze, and a spicy soy sauce for the broccoli, but it was food, and it did feed us.

The worst part was the sense of longing and desperation for what was on everyone else's plate. Those steaks smelled so familiar, that I really wanted a bite or two.

By far, and even more than the steak, was the temptation of the fresh hollandaise sauce in a tureen. Egg yolks, butter and lemon. I wanted to down it like a shooter.

Sad moment when the waiter brought out the dinner specials, and on the plate was a lobster the size of our cat, obviously suffocating in the "air". Barely twitching, it was a reminder that animal based food is really eating an extinguished life. I considered what the other side of the plate must look like from there.

Bill and I are going at this challenge for different reasons, and will very likely continue with it for different reasons.

He loves the heath aspects, on his slighly older arteries, veins and heart. He loves that he hasn't "had to" go to the gym, and lost 10 pounds and 2 inches from his waist.

While I love my slimmer line, and both the money and time I can add by not doing the boot camps for exactly the same result, when tested I find the animal issues more bolstering.

What I missed about the steak was the "juicy"ness. AKA, the blood, and the flesh of a formerly living cow.

What I miss about the hollandaise was the eggy-ness. AKA, a chicken's unfertilized ova, and in the states, most certainly a product of a massive factory farm.

What I miss about the butter is the creamy-ness. AKA the product of a lactating animal which is not the same species as me, most certainly a product of a hormone enhanced milker, spared only from being "veal" by virtue of her sex... just makes you wonder which is worse? Death to the baby boy cows, or a lifetime of longing and drudgery for the baby girls, shoved into parenting as early as possible, separated from her first calf and then milked until she's not worth keeping any more...

EEEW...Yuck... I'm often met with the phrase "don't think of it like that", but why not? The industry seems to thrive on the separation of these products by marketing them in a way that is not as distasteful, but it is the same thing.

While everyone around the table was curious and mildly supportive, there was still an element of "look what we have, and you don't". So I took another sip of wine and really looked...

Between appetizers, "salads", entrees, sides, desserts and cake, I figure everyone took in about 3000 calories that evening, not counting martinis, and wine.

Around the table were about 2400 oz of "overweight", two rounds of breast cancer, one recovering triple by-pass, three orders of high blood pressure and one order of prostate cancer. 5 people around the table had lost a parent to heart attack or stroke.

Yesterday I was really longing for these animal products - like an animal must long to get out of the lockdown, to play, to eat food they choose, and to live a full life, naturally. I am so lucky to be able to exercise that choice, and I find that incredibly empowering. I like withdrawing my financial support of an industry that does not reflect values I hold important.

The reality is that most of us don't really CHOOSE how to eat. We inherit it, from our families - at least initially. Once we are old enough to choose, it is pretty easy to just go with the flow of what we've learned, and even to abdicate our choices mindlessly. If you were born in a North American family, and learned north american eating, a plant-based diet does not seem "natural". Neither does switching to a plant based diet when one still lives in those circumstances.

But we can, at the very least, recognize our choices when we step up to the plate.